Pérez issued driving reprimand after breaching Turn 13 procedure in Canadian GP qualifying

Sergio Pérez has been handed a driving reprimand following qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, after the stewards found that he failed to comply with the prescribed procedure for negotiating Turn 13 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

The Incident

The case centred on Car 11 — Pérez's Cadillac Formula 1 entry — failing to move to the right as required by the Race Director's Competition Notes. The matter was reviewed under Article 12.2.1.i of the FIA International Sporting Code, which governs failure to follow officials' instructions.

Following receipt of the Race Director's report, the stewards summoned both Pérez and a representative of the Cadillac Formula 1 Team. In reaching their verdict, they examined a comprehensive suite of evidence: positioning and marshalling system data, video footage, timing information, and in-car camera material.

Pérez's Explanation — and Where It Fell Short

The Mexican driver offered context for his actions, explaining that he had observed the car behind him "weaving" and consequently assumed it was on an out-lap. In reality, that car was in the process of overtaking another competitor. The stewards acknowledged that his interpretation "may have been a reasonable one" — but were equally clear that this did not excuse the breach.

The Competition Notes are explicit on this point: any driver who fails to negotiate Turn 13 and passes completely to the left of the orange apex kerb must remain entirely to the left of the orange line on the exit of the corner, and may only rejoin the circuit at the far end of the asphalt run-off. The stewards determined that Pérez did not follow this procedure, constituting a violation of Article 12.2.1.i.

In their written reasoning, the stewards stated that while mitigating circumstances existed — specifically Pérez's misreading of the car behind — these were insufficient to absolve him of responsibility for failing to comply with the explicit instructions set out in the Competition Notes.

It was a busy qualifying session from a regulatory standpoint at Montreal. Lewis Hamilton was also placed under investigation for allegedly impeding Pierre Gasly during Q1, underlining the scrutiny applied by the stewards throughout the session.

First Reprimand of the Season

The penalty handed to Pérez is a driving reprimand — the stewards specifically noting that this is his first reprimand of the 2026 season. While a reprimand carries no direct sporting penalty in isolation, accumulation of reprimands across a season can trigger automatic grid drops, making it a mark Pérez will be eager not to see repeated.

The Incident