Lewis Hamilton has condemned Sergio Perez’s attacking driving style which was evident during the early stages of the Japanese Grand Prix, in which the future McLaren driver lunged up the inside of the Briton heading into the tight hairpin at turn 11. Perez tried a similar move around the outside later in the race, but spun out in the process.
After finishing the Japanese Grand Prix a distant 5th, the Briton proceeded to raise question marks over Sergio Perez’s driving style. As Hamilton defended his position, trying his best to avoid contact with the Championship at stake, Sergio Perez proceeded to lunge up the inside on the McLaren driver. This move was reminiscent of Kamui Kobayashi the previous year, who wowed his adoring home fans with a series of stunning overtakes into the hairpin.
Once the first round of pitstops had been made, Sergio Perez once again found himself behind the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. After carrying way too much speed into the hairpin, Perez was forced to the outside of the track as Hamilton defended against the Mexican’s onslaught. This overtake prematurely ended Perez’s race, as the Sauber driver spun into the retaining gravel trap. Lewis Hamilton later dubbed these maneuvers as “crazy”, in a race weekend which saw the 2008 World Champion struggle with his setup.
"I thought that he was going to do a crazy maneuver, which he did," explained Lewis Hamilton, in an interview with Reuters. “Then [later] when he was behind me I saw it coming again so I moved a little to the inside, thinking that he was going to go up the inside so he couldn’t get by, and he just flew down the outside of me. So very interesting..."
Sergio Perez later admitted that his spin was entirely his fault, after the Mexican avoided contact with Lewis Hamilton and embedded his car within the gravel. The Briton later explained that he decided against fighting for the position with Sergio Perez as he was thinking about the Championship fight with the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, the latter eventually winning the race in dominant style. Lewis Hamilton is now 42 points behind Championship leader Alonso, as the F1 circus moves swiftly on to Korea.
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