F1 stewards announce verdict on Sergio Perez-Carlos Sainz crash

The F1 stewards have announced that no further action will be taken against Sergio Perez or Carlos Sainz over their collision at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Perez and Sainz came to blows on the penultimate lap of the race while fighting for a spot on the podium when the pair tagged each other and were both sent spearing into the barriers at high-speed in a huge accident on the run to Turn 3. 

Red Bull driver Perez was left fuming with Sainz, claiming over team radio that the Spaniard was a “f****** idiot.”

Despite Red Bull seemingly pinning the blame on Sainz, the stewards took a different view, opting to dish out no punishment to either driver. 

How the stewards viewed the incident

The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 11 (Sergio Perez), the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, and in-car video evidence.

Sainz and Perez made contact and crashed shortly after Turn 2 on lap 50. This is a situation where a small touch had significant consequences. The Stewards reviewed how the incident occurred, not the consequence.

Sainz passed Perez after turn 1 and was completely ahead at the apex of turn 2. With a compromised exit by Sainz, Perez pulled to the inside of Sainz. Sainz reported that he was aware of Perez to his inside. Perez, being slightly behind, was in a better position to see the relative location of the cars. But as the two cars approached the wall on the right at the exit of Turn 2, they were about 1m apart.

From this point and throughout the incident, neither driver steered erratically, and indeed both kept their steering very neutral. The Stewards checked the driving line of the drivers on pervious laps. Sainz was on or close to his normal racing line, which forms a slight angle away from the right hand wall.

From the exit to the point of contact he move approximately one car width further away from the wall. Perez moved approximately half a car width further away from the same wall, being more parallel to the right hand wall.

It was thus apparent that while ahead, and having the right to drive his line, Sainz did move slightly towards a car that he had limited vision of. At the same time, there was nothing unusual about Perez’ line, but he could have done more to avoid the car that he had better view of.

In conclusion, the Stewards deem this to be a racing incident with neither driver being predominantly at fault, and take no further action.