Carlos Sainz lifts lid on heartbreaking Sergio Perez conversation after big Baku crash
Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez came together on the penultimate lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz has revealed that he had an ‘awkward’ 20-minute exchange with Sergio Perez in the medical centre after the pair collided on the penultimate lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, taking them both out of the race.
Sainz and Perez were battling over third place and with Charles Leclerc’s tyres falling off the cliff ahead, it was likely that the duo would both be standing on the podium beneath race-winner Oscar Piastri.
However, while battling on the exit of Turn Two, Sainz’s car crept across the racing line - as he is entitled to do - but Perez held his line, causing contact between the Red Bull and Ferrari racers and sending them both into the wall. They were then sent to the medical centre where they were checked over by FIA officials.
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Lifting the lid on his post-race chat with the Red Bull driver, Sainz explained: “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.’
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“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.
“Charles was dying on his hard tyres out there. We were probably both going to have a go at him. And we were both sitting there like: ‘How on earth did we manage to not finish in the podium?’ It was a podium coming - and in the end, we kind of joked about it, so no hard feelings with each other.”
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While for Sainz the crash took away a shot at an unexpected podium, the consequences for Perez were disastrous. The Mexican is now without a top-three finish in his last 12 races ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
With no points accrued in Azerbaijan, Perez has now dropped below George Russell in the Drivers’ Championship standings, leaving him eighth in the order. Red Bull, meanwhile, now trail McLaren by 20 points in the Constructors’ Championship.
