Shared blame
In a race full of twists and turns up until the checkered flag, and forcefully won by Oscar Piastri, the last-lap collision between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, which ended both of their races coming out of Turn 3, continues to spark debate among experts.
While Red Bull team principal Christian Horner pointed the finger at the Spaniard, accusing him of ruining the Mexican’s race, many have highlighted that Checo had enough space on the left to avoid the collision, although the Ferrari driver had also moved over too early.
Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher also commented on the incident on Sky Deutschland after the race, stating that both drivers could have adopted a less aggressive approach and avoided the collision: “Sainz came in there (fighting with Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc), he was very presumptuous and wanted to pass even his teammate. He didn’t know where to go and got into trouble. For some reason, Carlos moved, but Perez also didn’t move sideways.” – Ralf Schumacher pointed out at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
“Both have a lot of experience. Something like this shouldn’t happen so close to the end. You have to bring home the points.” – he added.
A different interpretation, however, comes from Helmut Marko, who believes that incidents like this should only happen to rookies: “I see a rather abrupt move to the left by Sainz, which ultimately caused the crash. I completely agree with Ralf. It was absolutely unnecessary to provoke something like this two laps from the end. Perez had a much better exit from Turn 2, and of course, he didn’t give way voluntarily, but he stayed on his line. Those two have, I don’t know how many Grands Prix under their belt, things like this should only happen to rookies. It cost us a lot of points.” – the Red Bull boss concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
