Carlos Sainz explains the “drift” that led to his and Sergio Perez’s crash at the Azerbaijan GP, ending their podium hopes.
Carlos Sainz has described the “drift” that led to his collision with Sergio Perez, ending their race at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The pair were wheel-to-wheel on the penultimate lap as they vied for the final podium position.
However, high-speed wheel contact resulted in both drivers crashing into a wall, thus eliminating them from the Grand Prix.
Both drivers have since presented their accounts to the stewards.
Asked to elaborate on what he would tell the stewards, Sainz stated, “I was following the normal racing line, the same line we all take every lap on this track.”
“Exiting turn 2, we naturally drift a bit to the left, but there’s nothing abrupt or erratic about it. Charles ahead of me was also moving left. I was just following his slipstream, and I don’t know, Checo decided to leave me no room or movement. I hit the wall full-on, a concrete wall!”
“Before that, I was catching up quickly with Charles and Checo. I had managed my tyres well. I overtook Checo, he was battling with Charles, and we came out of turn 2. I followed my normal racing line.”
“Again, I didn’t make any strange moves or anything. And for reasons I still can’t understand, we collided.”
“Checo had plenty of space to his left, I didn’t make any erratic moves. But I guess that’s sometimes how racing goes: you do 48 laps without an issue, then there are two laps left and these things happen.”
Sergio Perez has meanwhile stressed that his crash at the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix was “a disaster” for Red Bull.
“In my view, Carlos moved too swiftly to get into Charles’s slipstream. It was simply the wrong moment, the very wrong moment. This led to a massive crash. We exit the corner with a metre or two between us and within a few metres we end up colliding. It’s frustrating.”
Perez’s retirement helped McLaren surpass Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
“It’s really unfortunate that this happened. I’m at a loss for words. It’s a disaster for the championship. That our weekends end like this, when we clearly had more to gain, is a disaster.”
The next race is set to take place in Singapore, where Perez clinched a victory two years ago.
“This gives us a bit of confidence, especially since I’ve felt better with the car here. But there’s still work to be done. We saw with Max today that even a slight difference in settings can quickly put you in the zone like me or out of it like him. There’s a lot of work to do to get back in front.”
Update at 17:11: No penalty or action from the FIA on this collision, although it was deemed that Perez could have moved slightly more to avoid the accident.
The explanation provided below was to justify this decision.
“The stewards heard from the driver of car 11 (Sergio Perez), the driver of car 55 (Carlos Sainz), the team representatives, and reviewed the positioning/marshalling system data, video footage, and onboard video evidence.”
Sainz and Perez made contact and subsequently crashed shortly after turn 2 on lap 50. It was a scenario where minimal contact had significant repercussions. The stewards assessed how the incident unfolded, not its consequences. Sainz had overtaken Perez after turn 1 and was fully ahead on the inside line by turn 2. With Sainz’s compromised exit, Perez positioned himself inside Sainz. Sainz acknowledged being aware of Perez’s presence on the inside. Perez, slightly behind, was in a better position to see the relative positions of the cars. As the two cars approached the wall on the right at the exit of turn 2, they were about 1 metre apart.
From that moment and throughout the incident, neither driver steered erratically, and both even maintained very neutral steering. The stewards reviewed the drivers’ trajectories from previous laps. Sainz was on or close to his normal racing line, which angles slightly away from the right-hand wall. From exit to the point of contact, he moved about one car’s width away from the wall. Perez moved about half a car’s width from the same wall, staying more parallel to the right-hand wall.
It was thus clear that while Sainz was ahead and entitled to follow his line, he moved slightly towards a car which he had limited visibility of. At the same time, there was nothing unusual in Perez’s trajectory, but he could have done more to avoid the car of which he had a better view.
In conclusion, the stewards consider this a racing incident in which neither driver is primarily at fault, and no further action will be taken.
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FIA Rules on Sainz-Perez Azerbaijan GP Collision. f1 2024 FIA Rules on Sainz-Perez Azerbaijan GP Collision. FIA Rules on Sainz-Perez Azerbaijan GP Collision
