Sainz explains ‘drift’ that led to Perez crash in Azerbaijan GP

Carlos Sainz has explained the “drift” that resulted in his race-ending crash with Sergio Perez at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The pair went wheel-to-wheel on the penultimate lap of the race as they battled for the final spot on the podium.

A touch of wheels, however, at high speed saw the two slam into a wall, eliminating them from the grand prix.

The pair have since been to see the stewards to explain the incident.

When asked to detail what he would tell the stewards, Sainz told media, including RacingNews365: “That I did my normal racing line and the line that we all do on every lap of this track.

“Exiting Turn 2, we always drift a bit towards the left, but without doing any weird or erratic manoeuvre.

“Charles in front of me is going to the left also. I’m just following his slipstream, and I don’t know, Checo decides not to give him any kind of movement or space.”

Sainz adamant nothing strange

Sainz brought himself into contention for a podium after closing up to the leading trio of Oscar Piastri, Leclerc and Perez.

The Spaniard reiterated that he maintained his normal racing line as he pinned the blame on his Red Bull rival.

“I hit the barrier straight on, the concrete wall,” he stated. “I was coming [up] very quick behind Charles and Checo.

“I had saved my tyres well. I overtook Checo, he was fighting Charles and then we exited Turn 2. I did my normal racing line.

“I didn’t do any strange manoeuvres or anything. And for some reason that I still don’t understand, we collided.

“I think he had plenty of space, I didn’t do any strange movement. But I guess that’s racing sometimes – you do 48 laps without anything then you get to two laps to go and things like this happen.”