Perez: grid penalty harsh

Sergio Perez

From AutoSport — Sergio Perez says he was surprised to be called 'reckless' by the FIA after being punished for a crash at the start of Formula 1's US Grand Prix.

The Force India driver was given a seven-place grid penalty by race officials for colliding with Kimi Raikkonen and Adrian Sutil on lap one at Austin.

"I think it was just an optimistic move," Perez told reporters at Interlagos on Thursday. "I was actually quite surprised to see how they described it. [The penalty] is very unfortunate. I think they have been very harsh, but as a driver you can only accept it and look forward."

While Perez said he felt bad for Sutil, he added that he does not believe he made an error in making the move.

"Obviously I don't think I made a mistake," he said. "Adrian was the victim in the crash. The move on Adrian was done, but I just couldn't stop the car to not hit Kimi. Then when I hit Kimi, I touched Sutil. I'm sorry about that, I'm sorry for Sutil and his team.

"But I think seven places is very harsh. The problem was that I was not really expecting Kimi [to be where he was]. I think he was protecting a bit from Adrian as well, so he was slower and doing a tighter line."