Sergio Perez given formal warning for throwing cable organiser from Cadillac

Sergio Perez received a formal warning from the São Paulo Grand Prix stewards after throwing a cable organiser out of his Cadillac during final practice.

The stewards reviewed in-car footage and heard from a team representative before reaching their decision.

They identified the object as a small plastic cable organiser that normally attaches to the seat belt. It had become dislodged, and Perez was concerned it could become trapped elsewhere in the car and create a safety problem.

“While we appreciated the fact that it was a small, light piece of plastic that was unlikely to cause any damage to another car or injure another driver, throwing materials onto the track during a live session is not appropriate for obvious reasons,” the stewards said.

Perez's race engineer Carlo Pasetti had asked him about the incident over the radio. “We saw you throwing something out of your car on the outlap. What was it?” Pasetti said.

“I don't know. It was, errr, something came off. I think the radio, where you put the radio cables. A little box,” Perez said.

Pasetti said the team would investigate.

Perez finished the session 20th of 22 drivers, 1.951 seconds behind pace-setter Max Verstappen.

Crash.net reports that Perez is set to start Sunday's grand prix from the back of the grid after Cadillac fitted new power unit components to his car.