TORRENTIAL rain causes late red flag as Perez gifted FIA lifeline

Torrential rain with less than 10 laps to go of the Dutch GP saw the race red-flagged and Sergio Perez lose a podium place.

The Mexican, who had just been overtaken by Fernando Alonso following a mistake at turn one, pitted under a virtual safety car due to Zhou Guanyu's crash at the same corner.

His pitstop saw him drop to sixth as the red flag was waved as he came into the pits, seeing Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton gain places.

Perez was given a lifeline for the restart, though, as he was promoted back up to third following the FIA procedure for re-ordering the field.

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Very lucky

Had the race not been red-flagged, the switch to full-wet tyres was a smart one given the volume of rain falling, particularly on the pit straight.

Max Verstappen had already been in and out for wet tyres while Fernando Alonso stayed out on intermediates.

With the television images clearly showing waves of water on the track and Zhou in the barriers, the red flag was the only logical outcome.

Red Bull and Perez got away with a mistake thanks to the re-ordering but there will be questions over why the team came to that decision.

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