The stewards’ full decision read: “After making contact with the barriers in Turn 6, the driver [Perez] continued on track for the remainder of the lap with a significantly damaged car and thereby lost several carbon fibre parts on the way back to the pits.
“The team confirmed in the hearing that the driver had been advised to bring the car back to the pits as they were trying to avoid a Safety Car situation. The Stewards determine that, as well as a financial penalty for the team, a sporting penalty is necessary due to the safety implications of the incident.”
Despite securing a two-year contract extension with Red Bull last week, Perez’s nightmare weekend in Canada means he has failed to score in each of his last two races.
He was also forced to retire in Monaco after a dramatic collision on the first lap, but his results haven’t been helped by his recent qualifying run having started 16th in the Principality and again in Montreal.
“I did a mistake going into Turn 6, I just touched the wet patch and once you do that it’s really game over, and unfortunately that’s what happened,” said Perez on the incident before the penalty had been handed out. “Very tough weekend, but I think there is a long season ahead and we will be back to our form that we had earlier.”
