“One day there will be a big accident” - Sergio Perez blasts FIA for their handling of ‘dangerous’ Australian F1 race

Red Bull Racing driver Sergio Perez has criticized the FIA for their handling of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.

Last weekend's race Down Under saw three red flags and several safety cars being deployed as Verstappen emerged victorious, with Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso completing the podium.

Alex Albon crashed his Williams at Turn 6 on lap 7, which first led to a virtual safety car before the red flag came out. Kevin Magnussen's right-rear wheel came off following a crash when he was exiting Turn 2. This brought out another red flag, this time with just three laps left in the race

When the race eventually restarted once again, there was chaos across the grid as Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly collided. Logan Sargeant bumped into Nyck de Vries, and Alonso was spun around by Carlos Sainz. Lance Stroll and Perez went off-track and also lost positions.

Perez has criticized the way the second race restart was handled, calling it "dangerous." This is because the setting sun was in the line of sight of the drivers, causing visibility problems. This was also why Verstappen almost crossed the white line of his grid box.

The Mexican even warned the FIA that such visibility issues will one day result in a serious accident. He opined (via foxsports):

“In the end there was chaos and the red flag was necessary. The last restart was dangerous, firstly because of the heating and secondly because we couldn't see anything. We cannot compete in those conditions. One day there will be a big accident if we can't see anything.”

Sergio Perez, who started the action-packed and chaotic Melbourne Grand Prix from the pitlane, managed to finish P5. Speaking about his result, the 33-year-old stated that he had to be very cautious as too much risk could have seen him not finish the race. He said:

“The objective was damage control and that is what we have achieved today. It was a big, big mess with the DRS train at the beginning, you had to take a lot more risk if you wanted to make any more progress and you probably wouldn't have finished the race or you probably could have finished a little bit higher.”

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Sergio Perez should have been ‘P2 or higher’ in Melbourne, believes Ted Kravitz

F1 analyst Ted Kravitz believes Sergio Perez should have been 'P2 or higher' at the 2023 Australian GP.

Unlike his Red Bull Racing teammate Max Verstappen, who climbed to P2 from P15 in Jeddah, Sergio Perez could only manage to finish fifth in Melbourne. He started the race from the pitlane.

Kravitz has expressed his disappointment with Perez as the Briton believes that he should have easily plowed his way through to P2, or even higher. He told Sky Sports F1:

"Sergio Perez pitted twice under the first Safety Car, got the hard tyres out of the way, got boxed in at the start - that was his problem, and then, after that, it was a quieter weekend for Checo."

He added:

"He made his way through but it's a missed opportunity - I think after qualifying and after the problems they had on Saturday with the brakes, it is a missed opportunity for Red Bull and Perez - he should have been P2 or higher."