Azerbaijan F1 GP: Perez and Sainz Avoid Penalties for Crash

Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez were involved in a crash during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but stewards decided not to impose any penalties.

The incident occurred on the penultimate lap, as the two drivers were battling for third place. They made contact, causing both cars to hit the barriers, and a virtual safety car was deployed for the remainder of the race.

Perez had regained his strength on the streets of Baku and was behind the leading two cars of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc for much of the second half of the race. However, Leclerc slowed down due to hard tyres, bringing Perez and Sainz closer together and putting them on a collision course.

After reviewing the crash data and racing lines, the stewards determined that “neither driver was significantly at fault” and deemed the incident a “racing incident.” No further action was necessary.

Driver Reactions

Perez expressed frustration on the team radio after the incident. Sainz defended his position ahead of discussions with race stewards.

“It was a big crash. Unfortunately, I hit the concrete wall and hit the barrier. To be honest, I was going quite fast behind Charles and saving the tyres.”

“Then I think he came out of the second corner. He followed his usual trajectory. There were no strange movements. Then, for reasons I still don’t understand, we collided.”

“Yes, he had a lot of space on the left. I didn’t make any strange movements, but I think that’s the point of racing.”

Carlos Sainz

Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s advisor, insisted that Sainz was solely responsible for the crash.

“Sainz suddenly swerved to the left and crashed. There was no need to provoke something like that with two laps to go. Perez reacted well and obviously gave in voluntarily.”

Helmut Marko

Perez was more calm when discussing the incident.

“It’s very frustrating for the team that the weekend went like this. There was about a metre between the two cars coming out of Turn 2, but they touched within a metre or two. It’s unfortunate that this happened.”

“Obviously, I understand what Carlos was trying to do to follow Charles’ slipstream, but I was there and it all happened so quickly that the movement immediately touched my right front tyre.”

Sergio Perez

Category: Formula 1 / F1 Azerbaijan GP / Sergio Perez / Carlos Sainz Jr.