Red Bull star could MISS upcoming race after Saudi Arabian blunder

Sergio Perez will have to avoid any further incidents at the Australian GP, as he edges nearer to a race ban following penalties in Saudi Arabia.

After picking up a penalty for an unsafe release in the pits, the Mexican driver now has eight penalty points on his super license, the most of any driver on the grid.

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If he acquires four more this brings his penalty point total to 12 which incurs an automatic race ban.

Worryingly for Perez, the 12 month reset does not kick in until the Singapore GP, which takes place in September later this year.

Perez holds hands up to penalty

Speaking after the race, Perez took the blame for the penalty, and explained his perspective from the cockpit.

“Unfortunately then we were compromised with such an early Safety Car, and that meant that everyone basically just pitted.

"When I was going out it was actually my mistake because I was told by the team to hold it back, but in hindsight there I looked on the right and there was nobody there when I looked. In hindsight I think the penalty was correct and that pretty much compromised our race.”

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“You are able to have a bit of awareness of what’s going on around you, definitely," he added.

“And when I looked at the mirror, there was no one. I saw that I didn’t have the proper release. But I didn’t see anyone.

“So sometimes the team can be a little bit slower than you in the car. But this time was the other way around. Yeah, my bad in that one, but still happily didn’t change a race.”

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