Hamilton unhappy with 'crazy' Perez move

Lewis Hamilton has taken a swipe at his McLaren replacement Sergio Perez, accusing the Mexican of endangering his championship hopes with a "crazy" overtaking attempt during the Japanese Grand Prix.

The pair found themselves battling on the track as they ran sixth and seventh in the early going. Sauber driver Perez dropped behind Hamilton after running wide while trying to pass Felipe Massa, but made a pass on the Briton at the hairpin in a cloud of tyre smoke as he locked up his left-front tyre.

"I saw him coming and I have a championship to fight for and he doesn't, " said Hamilton, who eventually finished fifth and now lies 42 points behind championship leader Fernando Alonso after the Ferrari driver crashed at the first corner. "I thought that he was going to do a crazy manoeuvre, which he did."

He added: "Then [later] when he was behind me I saw it coming again so I moved a little to the inside, thinking that he was going to go up the inside so he couldn't get by, and he just flew down the outside of me. So very interesting."

But Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn said the experience was all part of the learning curve for the 22-year-old.

When asked if Perez had been too keen to prove a point given whom he was racing against, she said: "I don't think so.

"He is a very emotional character, we know that, and he does not have so much experience, so with someone with his character these things happen. It's part of the package you have with a young driver and you have to live with it."