Sergio Perez fumed at George Russell for the Lap 1 contact that ended his Austrian Grand Prix early.
The Mexican looked to capitalise on the Mercedes being out of position through Turn 3 and tried to go around the outside at Turn 4.
Unfortunately for Checo, Russell tagged the rear of his car spinning him into the gravel, effectively ending his race before later pulling in on Lap 25.
“It was a big shame that we had our race ended so early,” he said. “I had the whole race ahead of me and I thought I had good opportunities coming my way, so it was very painful.
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“I gave all the room I could to George on Lap 1, there was enough room for both cars not to crash and unfortunately, we ended up colliding.
“I was clearly ahead,” he maintained. “It was up to George to really control his car which he clearly couldn’t and we ended up making contact.
“There was nothing else I could have done. I gave him enough room. I was already very close to the gravel to make sure he had enough room and for both of us to make the corner.”
Perez also felt it was unlike Russell, who was given a five-second penalty by the stewards, to cause such an incident.
“For the standards of George, the level, I’m very surprised at that manoeuvre,” he added. “It’s a big shame for us what happened today.
“We had a lot of damage to the car and we were going nowhere so we had to retire,” he confirmed. “Today has hurt us in both championships, and hopefully we can recover the ground.”
History repeats for Mercedes and Red Bull at Turn 4 ?#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nNzNhgwJ3R
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 10, 2022
For Red Bull, there was a horrible sense of deja vu with the move almost identical to when Lewis Hamilton and Alex Albon collided in 2020.
“I don’t think Mercedes like our cars going round the outside at Turn 4,” team boss Christian Horner remarked to Sky Sports.
“It was a shame because Checo, you can see he’s ahead there and it’s almost a mirror image with Alex a couple of years ago.
“There was so much damage. There was no chance for him to score any points so better to save the mileage.
“It’s a tricky corner there but you know, we’ve seen so many incidents on the outside. It’s just a shame that he wasn’t given more space, but it’s one of those things, we’ll bounce back in France.”
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was less sympathetic to Perez though after he apparently ignored an instruction not to attempt that overtake.
“We said before the start: ‘Not on the outside of this corner, that’s not possible’,” he told Sky Germany.
“We have already had experience with the Albon here. Unfortunately, that [move] was unnecessary.”
