In an enthralling Azerbaijan Grand Prix which saw Mclaren’s Oscar Piastri picked up his second race win of the season, there was plenty of drama throughout. But the dramatic moment of the race came on the penultimate lap where Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz collided with Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez as both drivers were in pursuit of the final two podium positions behind Charles Leclerc. The crash saw both Sainz and Pérez crash out of the race in the final stages around the Baku Street Circuit.
Pérez attempted a move down the inside of the Monegasque at turn one, giving room for Sainz to overtake on the exit.
But the Spaniard had a look to overtake Leclerc at turn two, which meant the Mexican in the Red Bull was alongside as the headed down the back straight, before the pair of them collided and went into the wall.
Sainz was pleased with his race performance despite the crash as he said;
“Honestly, a very unfortunate ending. First of all, I’m glad Checo and I are okay. But yeah, I drove a solid race.
“I Didn’t do any erratic manoeuvres, any aggressive moving on Checo or anything like that. And we, for some reason that I don’t understand still, we collided and that was the end.
“I was very quick out there. I was coming back in the top three fastest man on track for the last 20 laps. But unfortunately, after passing Checo into turn one and after fighting Charles in two-turn two, there was a very unexpected contact exiting turn two that I honestly, I still don’t understand how it happened.”
Whilst the Mexican driver spoke in the media pen following the race:
“Yeah, it’s a real shame that it happened. Yeah, I mean, I’m lost words to say, you know, it’s a disaster for the championship, for both of us to end up a weekend like this, where we definitely had a lot more on the table. It’s a bit of a disaster. “ Perez said.
“I think, in my opinion, Carlos moved too quickly to follow the tow from Charles, so I think I do expect that, I mean, it was just wrong time, wrong moment, and it resulted in a huge shunt.”
Both drivers are off to see the stewards with the incident under investigation.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur spoke to F1 TV:
“Well first of all he’s okay that I met him and he’s a bit stiff but okay and this is the most important.
“I think then they started the straight line between turn two and three in the slipstream of Charles and they were very very close together and I didn’t review the the crash.
“But I had the feeling that they were both chasing the slipstream and they were almost touching before and for one let me have a look on the on the crash before to make any comment”
Meanwhile Red Bull’s Christian Horner spoke to Sky Sports F1 following the Grand Prix and stuck up for his driver.
“It’s heartbreaking for him, seeing so much effort goes into losing the podium at the end of the race.”
“Unfortunately, he lost quite a bit of time on out laps behind Alex Albon and Lando also costed him time which gave Oscar track position, I think without that he would’ve won the race today.” Horner added.
“He deserved more than that, I just watch the replay, and Carlos drifted across the circuit, He deserved a podium. It destroyed his race and a lot of damage, it has cost us a lot of points in the Contructors.”
Both drivers involved in the crash have been summoned to the Stewards to discuss the collision, however, it was deemed that there will be no further action taken.
McLaren take constructors championship lead
Following the crash in Baku, McLaren now lead the constructor’s championship by 20 points whilst Ferrari only trail Red Bull by 31 points with seven races remaining.
Featured photo credit: Red Bull Content Pool
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