Perez blames FIA failure for harsh penalty

Sergio Perez believes the FIA's failure to correctly police its own rules cost him after being given a "harsh" nine-place grid drop for the Austrian Grand Prix sprint.

The Red Bull driver exceeded track limits at turn eight during his fastest time in Q2 but the infringement was not picked up within the session by the FIA.

Perez was placed under investigation and later dropped to the position afforded him by his next best Q2 - 13th - for the sprint grid.

But this was only after the Mexican driver had burned a further two sets of soft tyres in the final 12 minutes of qualifying.

"I definitely did something wrong," conceded Perez. "But I also paid the price from the FIA not being able to police it better.

"I got a harsher penalty than I should because I wasted all my tyres in Q3 and risked it all, but anyway it is all in the past.

"We are seeing inconsistency through it all so hopefully we can work together with the FIA."

Perez reveals Hamilton wheel-banging

Perez was impressive in the sprint, climbing from 13th to fifth with some stunning overtaking moves throughout the 23-lap event.

But the racing was a little too close for comfort on the opening lap, with Perez revealing contact with Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes.

"It is always very tricky starting in those positions and I found myself making a load of progress," he explained.

"But I was limited with the amount of space I had going up the hill, it was on the limit.

"I was wheel-banging with Lewis going up the hill but good racing all in all, an enjoyable one."

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes

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