While there was some phenomenal driving on show at the Miami Grand Prix, there were also a lot of very questionable manoeuvres throughout the weekend.
It all started with Charles Leclerc’s spin at the beginning of practice and ended with his teammate Carlos Sainz receiving a penalty for hitting Oscar Piastri and ending the Australian’s chances of scoring points after a strong weekend.
Speaking on Sky Sports Italia, former Ferrari driver Ivan Capelli was providing his verdict on the race.
Lando Norris was the beneficiary of another poor piece of driving when Kevin Magnussen took out Logan Sargeant at his home Grand Prix.
The safety car came out at the perfect time for the Brit, who pitted for fresh tyres and drove off into the distance ahead of Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman didn’t seem too upset to see his close friend win his first Grand Prix, but could his race could have ended before the second corner.
Sergio Perez nearly took his teammate and both Ferrari drivers out going into turn one in Miami and Capelli has been left questioning what the Mexican driver was doing.
Ivan Capelli says Sergio Perez was the ‘joker of the year’ in Miami
Sergio Perez appears to have settled into the role of Red Bull’s second driver this season and has done a decent job.
He’s been a regular fixture on the podium but failed to finish directly behind his teammate in either race in Miami.
He nearly had hell to pay within the team on Sunday, braking too late on the dirty inside line of the track and locking up, nearly colliding with the back of Verstappen’s car and both Ferraris.
Oscar Piastri benefitted from his mistake, flying into second place and Perez suddenly had a job on his hands to recover.
Even in the Sprint Race, Daniel Ricciardo got the better of him going into turn one and he had to work hard to overtake the RB driver.
That delay prevented him from catching Charles Leclerc in second, while he only finished 4 in Sunday’s Grand Prix because Sainz picked up a penalty.
Capelli wasn’t too impressed with what he saw from Perez in Miami and with the £215,000-a-week driver’s future at Red Bull still on the line, he needs to close the gap to his teammate once again.
Sergio Perez almost caused Red Bull disaster in Miami
Capelli: “The roles were reversed. [Max] Verstappen was two or three-tenths quicker every three laps compared to his pursuers.
“On the hard tyre, with the same tactic, [Lando] Norris did the same as Max in the second part of the race.
“All the drivers congratulated Norris twice: on the lap of honour and when he got off. Lots of celebrations, including from the mechanics.
“[Sergio] Perez makes the joker of the year, almost getting a strike by knocking Verstappen out in Turn 1.
“With the thorny contract issue, he took a huge risk. With the Safety Cars, everything is a carom and you have to understand where you are and the timing. It’s always a question of luck.”
Carlos Sainz comments on Sergio Perez might hit too close to home for Red Bull
While Capelli believes that Perez took a huge risk in Miami, he’ll be glad that he got away with his early mistake.
After the race, Carlos Sainz admitted that Perez’s move reminded him of when former world champion Sebastian Vettel compared Daniil Kvyat to a ‘torpedo’.
The Russian driver took out Vettel at his home race back in 2016 and lost his seat at Red Bull as a result, being replaced by Max Verstappen who went on to win the following race in Barcelona.
Perez might not be too comfortable with that comparison considering what happened to Kvyat immediately afterwards.
However, thankfully he avoided contact with the Dutchman, although Verstappen’s reaction to the near miss after the race suggested that he wasn’t entirely sure his teammate knew he wasn’t going to hit him.
He even admitted that there was a scratch on his diffuser when he checked after the race which shows how close to disaster the team was.
The post ‘Took a huge risk’: Ivan Capelli suggests that £215k-a-week driver is the ‘joker of the year’ after Miami GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.