It was a crushing end to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez as they collided on the penultimate lap of the race fighting for P2 with Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque driver ran out of tyres in the closing laps after getting stuck in the DRS zone of the Aussie for over 25 laps.
Pérez, who had been running close to Leclerc and Piastri throughout the stint, looked to pounce. He tried going down the outside into turn 1 but Leclerc kept his nose in. Sainz got a far better exit, passing the Mexican. The Ferrari driver had closed down a 9s gap to join the front group.
The Spaniard then tried to get a good run out of turn 2 to pass his teammate. However, he got fractionally wide on exit and Pérez got alongside. An awkward tangle saw both end up in the wall and out of the race.
Both drivers could not believe what happened, as they gave reactions over team radio.
Speaking in the written media area, Sergio Pérez explained what happened from his point of view.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously super frustrated, that we both ended up a weekend like that for our teams.
“It’s a disaster and it’s just a shame, because when we exited turn two, there was a metre between the cars and then within a metre or two we ended up making contact.
“I think, obviously, I understand what Carlos [Sainz] was trying to do to follow Charles [Leclerc’s] tow, but I was there, and it all happened very quickly.
“As he was having more speed, the way he moved meant that he touched my front right tyre quite quickly.”
Asked what he said to Sainz after the incident, he explained how he felt the Spanish driver did not leave sufficient room.
“Yeah, basically at that time I just felt like he didn’t realise that I was there.
“And like I said, what disappoints me the more is that we exited turn two with a metre between the cars and we still, within two metres, ended up making contact.”
Pérez and Sainz had two close moments in practice, and it came to a head in the race. Nonetheless, he was disappointed it happened with his fellow Spanish speaker.
The 34-year-old was gutted as the 12-15 points lost hampers Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship, too. McLaren now leads the way.
“Yeah, it’s a shame, because Carlos is definitely the last guy I want to have an incident with. It’s just a shame that we both ruined our weekends.
“Yeah, it’s a massive frustration. It makes me feel super sad for my team. You know, McLaren overtook us in the Championship.”
Carlos Sainz gave his version of events, explaining how he was surprised that Pérez did not move to the left.
“Honestly I was coming very quick behind Charles and Checo, I had saved my tyres well.
“And yeah, I overtook Checo when he was fighting Charles and 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.”
The 30-year-old added they naturally drift a small bit left on the exit of the corner, and he was trying to get in Leclerc’s slipstream.
“That I do my normal racing line and the line that we all do in every lap of this track: exit in turn two, we always drift a bit towards the left, but without doing any weird or erratic manoeuvre.
“Charles in front of me is going to the left also, I’m just following his slipstream obviously, and I don’t know, Checo I think decides not to give in any kind of movement or space, but it’s too early to say.”
The stewards investigated the collision after the race and came to a conclusion of no further action.
