Red Bull saved Sergio Perez's Qatar Grand Prix by taking action in Japan

Red Bull may have sealed the 2023 Formula 1 Constructors' championship in the Japanese Grand Prix, but it was largely due to star driver Max Verstappen's antics this year.

The Dutchman has been in impressive form, with teammate Sergio Perez playing second fiddle in a year that can be described as largely forgetful for the Mexican.

For Perez, things took an even more severe turn for the worse during the recent race in Japan, which saw him incur two five-second time penalties and make contact with several drivers during the race.

His race barely lasted 15 laps, with the team deciding to retire his RB19 as Verstappen romped to his 13th win of the year.

"My race ended up not being straightforward at all. We had a poor start, and everything went downhill from there, unfortunately. The collisions caused too much damage, so we brought the car in to assess," Perez said after the race.

A collision with Magnussen, a retirement, a return, a penalty served, and another retirement

Sergio Perez had a stop-start-stop race at Suzuka #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/xsxT7t7wlf

Exploiting the loophole

On Lap 11 of the race, Perez, with a new front wing fitted after his first one got damaged on the opening lap, collided with Kevin Magnussen's Haas. Again, his front wing was damaged, and the team called him in to replace it, only for him to be pulled from the race on Lap 15.

What happened next would shock F1 fans, but it only emphasised the brilliance of the Red Bull team.

While in the garage, Race Control hit Perez with a five-second penalty for causing the collision with Magnussen.

With the penalty enforced, Red Bull sent Perez back out on Lap 40, with him pitting and serving the penalty, going back out on track, and retiring at the end of the