Carlos Sainz denies he was “aggressive” in race-ending Sergio Perez crash

Carlos Sainz has denied that he was “aggressive” or “erratic” during his race-ending incident with Sergio Perez at the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Battling for the podium, Sainz and Perez crashed on Lap 50 of the race in Baku.

Replays suggested the pair veered into each other, with Sainz moving slightly left into Perez’s path.

Perez had been attacking Charles Leclerc just before his eventual contact with Sainz.

Reflecting on the incident, Sainz told Sky Sports: “Honestly, a very unfortunate ending. First of all, I’m glad that Checo and I are okay.

“I drove a solid race. I was very quick, coming into the top three of the fastest on-track for the last 20 laps.

“But unfortunately, after passing Checo into Turn 1 and fighting Charles into Turn 2, there was a very unexpected contact exiting Turn 2. I still don’t know how it happened.

“I didn’t do any erratic manoeuvres or aggressive moves on Checo. For some reason, which I still don’t understand, we collided. That was the end.

“This time I am 100% convinced that I didn’t do anything wrong, or anything aggressive.”

Stewards investigated the incident but opted to take no further action.

Up until the crash, it was a positive day for Ferrari, which challenged McLaren once again for the victory.

Sainz was initially cut adrift of the top three before putting in a strong stint at the end of the race to challenge for the top three.

Despite the end result, the Spaniard was pleased with his pace.

“I was very quick,” he added. “Honestly, I lost a lot of time at the pit stop and I had a very poor in lap after I hit the cliff with the medium tyre and it left me 10 seconds behind. But I was the quickest out there today and I think I was on for second place and that’s why I’m so disappointed overall.

“Very strong pace, very strong race, so it’s extremely disappointing at a track where I am normally a bit on the slow side, today I was very quick, so it’s disappointing.”