Perez crashes on first lap in FP1 in Hungary

Sergio Perez made an uncharacteristic error on his very first outing at the Hungaroring as he dug a wheel on the grass on turn five, lost control of the car and subsequently crashed.

Sergio Perez clips the grass and his FP1 ends in the barriers 💥#HungarianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/2sWABZXYQl

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 21, 2023

The incident brought out the red flag, preventing all the drivers from getting laps in the dry as rain began to fall.

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The Mexican’s frustration was visible as his error put another dent on his title aspirations. Perez was hoping for a clean weekend after failing to reach Q3 in the last 5 races and that certainly wasn’t the start he wanted.

“I can’t believe this,” he said on the team radio.

Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner was more consolent of the error, trying to defend his driver.

“He just misjudged it. It was just a mistake. You could hear the frustration in his voice.” Hoerner said.

Perez is put under increasing pressure after the announcement of the return of Daniel Ricciardo to Alpha Tauri with many believing that the Aussie may be on course of full return to Red Bull in Perez’ place.