Gutted Christian Horner claims Sergio Perez could have won F1 Azerbaijan GP

Christian Horner insisted that Sergio Perez could have won the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix without the misfortune that hindered him.

Red Bull’s Perez and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz were battling for third-place on the penultimate lap when they tangled, and smashed into the barrier.

Perez made his anger clear with an X-rated team radio rant.

He had previously been stuck behind Lando Norris, which gave him too much to do to catch race winner Oscar Piastri.

Red Bull’s gutted team principal Horner told Sky Sports about Perez: “He deserved a lot more. Carlos drifts across the circuit.

“Very disappointing. He should have, at least, been on the podium.

“It destroyed the race for Checo, it did a lot of damage, and cost us vital points in the constructors’ championship.”

Stewards did not take action after investigating the incident.

Red Bull lost the lead in the constructors’ championship to McLaren in Baku, thanks to Piastri’s win and Norris finishing P4.

Horner was asked if Perez could have caught Piastri before his crash with Sainz.

“Difficult,” he responded. “Unfortunately he lost quite a bit of time on his out-laps after Alex Albon.

“Then Lando cost him dearly which gave Oscar the track position.

“Without that, he would have won the race today.

“It’s one of those things that is heartbreaking for the team, to lose a podium in the dying laps of the race.”

Why was Perez faster than Verstappen?

F1 champion Max Verstappen was restricted to a sub-par P5 in Azerbaijan.

Horner explained why Perez was faster: “He found a good rhythm and set-up.

“Checo’s car was very quick today. We might have introduced some things on Max’s car which didn’t work so well.

“We damaged the tyres fighting through for such a long period.

“Look at George Russell’s stint. He starts slowly, builds into it, then has a better tyre at the end.

“So it’s really very frustrating.”

Horner said about McLaren taking charge of the constructors’: “There is still a lot of racing to do.

“It was a magnificent race at the front, for so many laps.

“We’re disappointing it came to close like that, when it didn’t need to.”