Sergio Perez walked away unscathed from a high-speed crash yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Mexican driver suffered a rear suspension failure and lost control of his Force India on the exit of Turn 11 before hitting the barriers on the opposite side of the track.
Perez’s right-front wheel then appeared to get caught underneath his Force India which flipped his car.
The former McLaren driver was prompt to inform his team he was “OK” before clambering out of his car.
The incident, which happened one hour into the first of the two 90-minute sessions, comes with the F1 community still mourning the loss of Jules Bianchi, who died last Friday.
Yesterday’s first session, the first on-track action since Bianchi succumbed to the head injuries he sustained at last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, was immediately red-flagged and a medical car was sent to the scene.
Perez was swiftly taken to the medical centre as a precaution but emerged waving to the grandstands.
“It was a really bad accident, pretty unlucky,” Perez said. “The track was dirty and I went on the astroturf and I collided on the other side of the track at a very bad angle, so it made the car roll over.
“But everything’s all right. It was a strange accident. I thought it was under control, but the astroturf was very dirty which is why I went in the wall. We’ll have to check everything in detail.”
Force India chose not to run Perez or teammate Nico Hulkenberg during the second practice session as they sought to resolve what had caused the suspension problem that had led to the crash.
“The accident cut short our morning and we opted to withdraw from the afternoon session as a precaution until we had a clear understanding of the problem,” said Otmar Szafnauer, the team’s chief operating officer.
“Those investigations remain ongoing and will continue this evening to ensure we can resume running on Saturday.”
At the front, championship leader Lewis Hamilton began his bid for a fifth win in nine years at Budapest as he topped the times in both sessions.
The double world champion clocked a fastest time of 1 min, 23.949 secs around the Hungaroring to lead the Red Bull Racing pair of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo.
However, the Briton said he was concerned by the warm weatherthat is forecast to last all weekend.
“This is a challenging circuit and that is how it should be, but it would be good if it is not so hot on Sunday for the race,” he said. “I feel I must have lost at least a kilo out there in that session.”
CHEQUE CLEARS SO PIRELLI DELIVERS TYRES TO LOTUS
The Lotus Formula One team blamed a banking technicality for a delay in Pirelli releasing tyres to them ahead of first Hungarian Grand Prix practice on Friday.
The team received their tyres less than an hour before cars went out on track at the Hungaroring.
Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi told Reuters there had been “a problem with the money” but blamed complications in the bank transfer system.
Pirelli said the situation had been resolved and would not comment on the details.
“Everything is totally fine now,” said a spokesman.
Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, who was still in the team hospitality when the first session started, and reserve driver Jolyon Palmer both appeared on track about half an hour into practice once the tyres had been prepared and warmed.
Lotus faced a winding-up petition brought by creditors earlier this month, although the matter was resolved out of court.
The British-based team, once owned by Renault and now racing with Mercedes engines, have had financial problems although the signing of Maldonado has brought considerable backing from state oil company PDVSA.
The team’s chief executive Matthew Carter has said repeatedly that Lotus are not for sale despite persistent paddock speculation linking them to a possible Renault takeover.
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