Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Sainz and Pérez crash deemed a racing incident

Red Bull Racing/Red Bull Content Pool

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- In a dramatic turn of events at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, a massive collision on the penultimate lap between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez has been officially classified as a racing incident by the stewards, with no further action to be taken against either driver.

The incident occurred on lap 50 of 51 as Sainz and Pérez were battling fiercely for third place. Both drivers crashed into the track's barriers at high speed, prematurely ending their race.

The collision took place on the straight between Turn 2 and Turn 3, leading to an immediate investigation by the stewards, who subsequently found no driver at fault.

Stewards' statement

"Sainz passed Pérez after Turn 1 and was completely ahead at the apex of Turn 2," the stewards' detailed report stated. "With a compromised exit by Sainz, Pérez pulled to the inside of Sainz. Sainz reported that he was aware of Pérez to his inside.

"Pérez, being slightly behind, was in a better position to see the relative location of the cars. But as the two cars approached the wall on the right at the exit of Turn 2, they were about 1m apart.

"From this point and throughout the incident, neither driver steered erratically, and indeed both kept their steering very neutral.

"The stewards checked the driving line of the drivers on previous laps. Sainz was on or close to his normal racing line, which forms a slight angle away from the right-hand wall.

"From the exit to the point of contact he moved approximately one car width further away from the wall. Pérez moved approximately half a car width further away from the same wall, being more parallel to the right-hand wall.

"It was thus apparent that while ahead, and having the right to drive his line, Sainz did move slightly towards a car that he had limited vision of. At the same time, there was nothing unusual about Pérez's line, but he could have done more to avoid the car that he had better view of.

"In conclusion, the stewards deem this to be a racing incident with neither driver being predominantly at fault, and take no further action."

Driver reactions

Speaking after the race but before the stewards' final decision, Carlos Sainz shared his perspective on the incident:

"I did my normal racing line and the line that we all do on every lap of this track," Sainz remarked. "Particularly at Turn 2 we always drift a bit towards the left but without doing any weird or erratic maneuver.

"Charles [Leclerc] in front of me was also going to the left and we were just following his slipstream, obviously. And Checo [Pérez], I don't know, I think decides not to give any kind of movement or space, but it's too early to say."

Sergio Pérez, in his pre-decision comments, expressed a different viewpoint:

"In my opinion Carlos moved too quickly to follow the tow from Charles," Pérez explained. "It was just the wrong time, wrong moment and it resulted in a huge shunt."

The stewards' ruling of the incident as neither driver's fault will likely put an end to discussions, allowing both drivers to move forward from the crash that marked an abrupt and dramatic end to their Azerbaijan Grand Prix aspirations.

Up Next