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French Grand Prix podium finisher Sergio Perez avoided a penalty for his overtake on Formula 1 rival Valtteri Bottas because of the time he was deemed to have lost going off-track afterwards.
Red Bull driver Perez forced Bottas to defend into the chicane on the back straight and was initially blocked on the exit of the corner as well, before Bottas defended on the run up to the fast Signes right-hander.
That meant Perez attacked on the outside instead and had enough straightline speed to pass the Mercedes and take third with just over three laps to go of the Paul Ricard race.
But Perez went wide through Signes, over the white line on exit, so was investigated by the stewards for allegedly going off track and gaining an advantage.
The stewards reviewed the move and determined Perez had already passed Bottas “by the time he left the track”, which they say “made the fact that he left the track subsequently a standard ‘track limits’ question”.
It could be argued that Perez only went wide because he appeared to leave room for Bottas on the inside but it seems the stewards felt that as Bottas was too far back to actually contest the corner the move could be considered complete.
That switched the focus to the part of F1’s sporting rules that state should a car leave the track the driver may only rejoin when it is safe to do so and without gaining any lasting advantage.
And the stewards determined that Perez “lost sufficient ground that he could not be deemed to have gained a lasting advantage” so decided to take no further action.
Mercedes did not pit Bottas, and chase the fastest lap and bonus point that comes with it, after that move because it felt that Perez might get penalised so wanted to keep its driver as close to him as possible.
A five-second penalty, the usual punishment for the offence Perez was under investigation for, may have been enough for Bottas to take back the podium.
But he fell too far behind on his worn tyres and was almost six seconds adrift at the finish anyway.
“It was really balancing between that [potential] penalty or making fastest lap and we gambled,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff told Sky. “We lost.”
