The Mexican sustained a heavy crash after contact with the Haas driver at Beau Rivage, as Magnussen attempted to thread his car down the inside and found himself rapidly running out of space.
This threw Perez into the barrier with considerable damage to his car, exacerbated when he clipped Nico Hulkenberg – who was attempting to clear the wreck.
No further action was taken by the stewards, and Magnussen reckoned Perez “clearly wasn’t leaving space” despite feeling he had enough of his car up the inside.
Perez’s opinion differed, stating that Magnussen was in the wrong and should have backed out of the move.
“If you see my onboard, at no point you see Kevin’s car – not even close to me, alongside me, and you could see that the wall is just getting closer and closer,” Perez rued.
“To keep it flat out, there was only one way out of it, and it was either contact with my car or with the barrier.
“There was just simply no room for both cars and at some point, he had to realise that – I mean, I’ve been in that occasion – and many times when you are the car behind you just have to realise that it’s time to back off, before things get closer to you.”
“I’m very surprised [the incident was not investigated] because [of] the amount of damage and how dangerous the damage was. I’m really surprised.”
Marshals remove the damaged car of Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20, from the circuit after a crash on the opening lap
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Asked what he thought of Magnussen’s opinion that he should have been given space, Perez reiterated that the Dane should have lifted off and was not entitled to room given his position on the track.
He added that the incident could be construed as “dangerous driving”, and felt that Magnussen was not bothered by the consequences of his actions.
“I think he clearly shouldn’t be there in the first place because there is just one way to get out of that. It will be just to hit the wall, he either hit the wall or hit my car. The right side of my car.
“So how does he want me to leave him room if he’s not even alongside? There’s a point where you see the wall is coming to you and you just have to back off. It has happened to me many times and there’s a point where you just have to back off.
“I’m really surprised. I get the lap one ‘let them race’, but I think this was more dangerous driving just to keep it flat out knowing that they were going to come contact me. At some point I think that was some dangerous driving.
“I don’t think he really thinks about the outcome. You sometimes find yourself in a position and you have to take a very quick decision to say, ‘okay, there’s only one way of it and it’s going to be contact so I’d better back out’ – but he will go for the contact.”