Expert judgement points finger of blame for Sergio Perez v Carlos Sainz crash
Blame has been issued after Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez collided
Carlos Sainz must take most of the blame for the race-ending incident with Sergio Perez in Baku, claims Karun Chandhok.
Ferrari’s Sainz and Red Bull’s Perez crashed out with one lap of the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix remaining.
Their scrap for a podium position ended with both cars smashing into the barrier.
Charles Leclerc, in P2, had first fought off Perez’s challenge.
Chandhok analysed replays for Sky Sports: “Leclerc defended the inside-line into the first corner. That put Perez out wide.
“Carlos then gets a run, gets momentum, into Turn 2. He has a look around the outside of his teammate.
“Carlos ends up wide of the apex. Checo is on the racing line where the grip is.
“Carlos now has a poor exit. Checo gets a better run.
“Carlos is on the white line up against the wall, Checo is in the middle of the circuit.
“Carlos is edging towards the middle, and that’s where they make contact.
“It’s natural for a racing driver to want to move away from the wall.
“Carlos is edging in, edging in… he has moved away from the white line, deviated from the line.
“From the onboards we can see which way the drivers are looking.
“Sainz looks in the mirror, just at the point before they make contact, he has spotted Perez.
“Unfortunately for Carlos, I think he’s got to take more of the blame.
“They were super close and it’s not a place where you expect an incident to happen. You also expect the other driver to move.”
Stewards investigated the incident but did not take further action.
Perez’s DNF cost Red Bull vital points in the constructors’ championship. They have fallen behind McLaren after Oscar Piastri’s victory in Baku.
It also cost Perez a rare chance to finish ahead of teammate Max Verstappen.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
