The weekend of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was looking very positive for Sergio Perez. He performed well in the practice sessions and qualified 4th for the race. Even in the race, Perez had an opportunity to win. However, his hopes went out the window as he crashed with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari with just a couple of laps to go. Perez has since blamed Sainz for the accident.
During the final laps of the race, Perez was trying to get past Leclerc for 2nd place but instead lost 3rd place to Carlos Sainz. But the Mexican driver refused to give up easily and attacked him going into turn 2. Coming out of the corner, the 2 cars were wheel-to-wheel. However, they eventually crashed and both drivers were out of the race. Luckily both drivers were fine. But who was at fault?
Sergio Perez blames Carlos Sainz after huge crash at Baku
Right after the crash, Perez came on the radio and shouted “Is Carlos crazy or what? What an idiot! What the **** is he doing, man?”
From Perez’s point of view, it did look as though Sainz veered a bit to the left as they came out of turn 2. However, Sainz was in the lead. After the race, Perez continued to blame Sainz for the accident.
“Really a shame that it happened. Yeah, I lost words to say because it cost a lot of points, disaster to the championships. We definitely had a lot more on the table this weekend.
“In my opinion, Carlos moved too quickly to follow the tow from Charles, it’s just wrong time, wrong moment that ended up with a huge shunt.”
Sparks fly on the streets of Baku! 💥😱
This moment between Sainz and Perez effectively ended the race, and cost both the chance of a podium!#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/iR6UTynvpv
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2024
Sergio Perez has not had the best of seasons this year. From the beginning, he has been unable to compete against his teammate, and he currently sits in 8th position in the Drivers’ Championship, while Verstappen is 1st.
For the first time this year, Perez managed to outqualify Verstappen and was on the way to finish ahead of him during the race as well. But all his efforts were gone in vain as he got into the accident with Sainz.
After the shunt, Red Bull has lost a lot of points against McLaren as well. The Papaya team now lead the Constructors’ Championship by 20 points.
Now, with just 7 more race weekends to go, it looks as though McLaren can carry on and win the Constructors’ Championship. There is also a chance that Ferrari can beat Red Bull in the points table as well.
It is going to be interesting to see what happens in the next few races. Who do you think was at fault during the accident? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
