Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez were both eyeing a podium finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc, who was running in second place at the time, had started to struggle on his old hard compound tyres in the closing stages of the race. However, their contest ended in a dramatic fashion on the penultimate lap when the pair tangled while fighting for third place.
The front right tyre of Pérez’s car made contact with Sainz’s right rear and sent the SF-24 across the path of the Red Bull and into the wall. While the stewards viewed the clash as a racing incident, both drivers shared a heated moment at the site of the crash and ascribed blame to each other.
Sainz was asked to address a specific clip that went viral on social media, where Pérez was alleged to have touched his helmet while he was still inside the cockpit of the wrecked car. When asked whether he had an issue with the exchange given the possibility of having sustained a neck injury or if he remembered Pérez doing so, the Spaniard responded that he had no recollection of whether the Red Bull driver had nudged his helmet.
Explaining that he always takes his time getting out of the car, Sainz remarked that Pérez had used that moment to accost him.
Admitting that he couldn’t hear the Mexican driver’s words, Sainz revealed that the pair managed to clear the air after engaging in an awkward conversation in the medical centre.
“No, I don’t remember if he did, honestly speaking I cannot remember if he [Sergio Pérez] touched my helmet or not.
“Anyway, I always take a bit of time to get out of the car because I need to undo all my belts, I also need to remove the headrest, while some drivers prefer not to, the drink tube, radio. I always take my time, and I think he used that time to agitatedly come to me to say something.
“By the way, I could not hear what he said!”
“But now we discussed after we were awkwardly sat next to each other for 20 minutes in the medical centre. Both with a heart rate monitor and controlling our vitals.”
“We were looking at each other and saying: ‘Mate, what the f*** happened there?’ And we were like: ‘I don’t know. But I promise I didn’t do anything bad to you, Checo. I didn’t close you off. I didn’t do anything’.
“We were having this dialogue and trying to analyse what happened. And suddenly, after these 20 minutes, we were like: ‘This sport is so s*** sometimes. How can we be here and missing out on the podium? We had the podium’.
When Pérez was asked to provide a clarification regarding the contentious clip and address the outrage on social media, he confirmed that he hadn’t pushed the Ferrari driver’s head and that Sainz was simply looking downwards when he was speaking to him.
Labelling the video as misleading, the six-time race winner proclaimed that Sainz is one of his best friends on the Formula 1 grid. Moreover, he added that the Spaniard would be the last person he would want to be involved with in a race-ending incident.
“No, I was chatting to Carlos [Sainz]. And as he was looking down, I was talking to him. I didn’t push his head.
“It looks worse on the video than it is. Obviously, Carlos is one of my best mates in the drivers group. So, I mean, the last person that I would have liked to come together is with Carlos.”
Pérez believes the accusations showed the worst side of social media, labelling it toxic.
“I have to say that social media sometimes can be very toxic in that regard. So it’s best to stay away because most of the time people don’t know exactly the truth.
“And the truth is that we both were extremely disappointed.
“I mean, there’s nothing like I hit his head or some of the comments that I’ve seen. I have nothing to say about it. Carlos knows exactly.
“And we walked together after back to the paddock. And we were just both super disappointed with ourselves.
“After such a race, what we both did, we finished our weekend like that.”
