Ferrari and Red Bull were left blaming one another for the late incident that saw both Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez crash out of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as the stewards deemed it a racing incident.
With the pair squabbling over third place coming out of Turn 2 on the penultimate lap, they had a coming together that resulted in both cars hitting the barriers and bringing out a virtual safety car for the remainder of the race.
Having struggled for form of late, Perez was back to his best on the streets of Baku and had been sat on the tail of the leading duo of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc for much of the second half of the race, before the lead Ferrari of Leclerc lost pace as his hard tyres gave up on him.
That allowed both Perez and Sainz to close in and put them on the collision course to end each other’s races prematurely.
After talking to both drivers and studying data from the incident as well as the respective driving lines from previous laps, the stewards came back with a decision that no further action was necessary labelling the crash a “racing incident” in which “neither driver was predominantly at fault.”
Perez’s frustration was clear as he swore over the team radio following the crash, while Sainz defended his position ahead of a conversation with race stewards.
“[It was a] big accident, unfortunately I hit the barrier straight on the concrete wall. I was coming very quick behind Charles and Checo, I had saved my tyres as well. I overtook Checo when he was fighting Charles,” Sainz explained.
Watch: Piastri's Perfect Performance - F1 Azerbaijan GP Race Reaction
“Then I think we exited Turn 2. I did my normal racing line. I didn't do any strange manoeuvre or anything. And for some reason that I still don't understand, we collided and yeah, I think he had plenty of space to the left. I didn't do any strange movement, but I guess that's racing.
“Sometimes you do 48 laps without anything and then you get two laps, three laps to go and things like this happen.”
As would be expected, Sainz’s version of events was very much at odds with how Red Bull saw the incident, with director Helmut Marko laying the blame squarely on Sainz.
“I see Sainz making a rather abrupt move to the left, which then triggered this crash. It was completely unnecessary to provoke something like that two laps before the end. Perez came out much better and of course he didn't make way voluntarily,” Marko said.
“He stayed on his line, but the two of them have I don't know how many grand prix races under their belts. If something like that happens to a beginner, maybe. It cost us an incredible amount of points and, as I said, the whole thing will be even more difficult for Singapore.”
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 before the stewards opted to take no action against the pair, Horner echoed the sentiments of Marko: “He [Perez] deserved a lot more, I was just looking at the replay and you can see Carlos start to drift across the circuit so very disappointing, he should at very least have been on the podium today.
“You have to look at what will be imposed for the following weekend [in terms of a potential penalty for Sainz], it has destroyed the race for Checo toady, cost us a lot of damage and obviously vital points in the constructors’ championship.”
In response to Horner’s call for the stewards to take action, Ferrari counterpart Fred Vasseur told Autosport: “If Horner is expecting for Carlos then I am expecting a grid penalty for Checo, he had plenty of room on the left-hand side.”
Perez was more measured when he spoke about the coming together in the media pen, especially considering he had used an expletive in the immediate aftermath.
“We leave super frustrated that we both ended up with weekends like that for our teams,” he summarised. “It is just a shame because when we exit Turn 2 there was a metre between the cars and then within a metre or two we ended up making contact.
“I understand what Carlos was trying to do, to follow Charles’ tow but I was there and it all happened very quickly as he was having more speed and the way he moved meant he touched my front right tyre quite quickly.
“At that time I just felt like he didn’t realise I was there…it makes me feel super sad for my team, McLaren overtook us in the championship, but the positive thing is the pace is back.”
