Publications
• Sergio Perez will not receive updated parts on his race car this weekend.
• Racing Point says this is because Perez is tailing his team mate in the championship.
• Perez will leave Racing Point at the end of the season.
• For more motoring stories, go to www.Wheels24.co.za
Sergio Perez won't be receiving an upgrade at the Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix after all, with Racing Point revealing they have run out of time to produce new parts after Lance Stroll's crash last weekend.
The Tuscan Grand Prix was the first race in which Racing Point had new parts available but only for one car, that being Stroll's because he was ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez in the World Championship standings.
The idea was that Perez would then also have the updated package on his car at Sochi.
Scuppered plans
But that plan has been scuppered after Stroll's accident at Mugello, where his car suffered a suspected puncture at the Arrabbiata 2 corner and speared into the tyre barrier while he was launching a challenge to Daniel Ricciardo for what was P3 at the time.
Due to the car sustaining heavy damage, having been on fire at one point after the crash, a lot of the new parts will have been destroyed in the impact.
Team principal Otmar Szafnauer subsequently revealed Racing Point would have "a lot of work to get enough parts together for both of them to have the upgrade in Russia" because production processes needed to be ramped up to get everything turned around so they could be flown out in time.
READ: Someone has to sign him - Three teams Sergio Perez could join post-Racing Point in 2021
It now transpires those efforts have failed, with the official F1 website reporting that "it is believed there was a delay in production and they haven't been able to deliver all the new parts".
Again, with only one set available, it will be Stroll who has the benefit due to being 13 points ahead of his colleague in the World Championship standings.
It's the latest blow for Perez in a challenging season during which he missed the two races at Silverstone due to testing positive for Covid-19 and has also had to deal with constant speculation about his future, Sebastian Vettel having long been linked with his place in the team.
That speculation was recently solidified by news that Perez will indeed be making way for Vettel and is now in the process of determining his own plans for 2021 and beyond.
Regarding his prospects for the rest of this campaign, the Mexican told Racing Point's official website: "I really think we can have a stronger second half of the season. I don't think luck has always been on my side in the races so far. It feels like there is more to come."
