Last Updated on September 18 2024, 2:52 pm
With just two laps remaining of the 2024 Formula One Grand Prix of Azerbaijan, Sergio Perez missed a rare opportunity to finish ahead of his team mate this season by crashing into Carlos Sainz.
At one point in the race Checo was favourite to take the win following his first pit stop, yet Lando Norris who had yet to stop delayed the Red Bull driver for a couple of Laos, allowing his team mate to emerge ahead of the Red Bull.
“Other than that he [Checo] would have won the race,” observed Christian Horner when speaking to Sky F1 after the chequered flag.
Checo throws away podium finish
Perez was widely expected by paddock insiders to be sacked during the summer break given his contribution to the team’s title effort was woeful. Yet Red Bull decided to retain their Mexican driver stating the upcoming races had been proven to be happy hunting grounds for Checo in the past.
Sergei indeed delivered in Baku qualifying where he has won two of the three previous year’s Grand Prix. He out qualified his world champion team mate and late in the race was challenging Leclerc for P2.
But it all went wrong with less than two laps to go. Sergio went to pass Leclerc on the side Ito turn one, but he braked too early giving the Ferrari man the advantage. Meanwhile Carlos Sainz was lurking and the Spaniard took advantage of the narrow line the Red Bull was taking and passed Perez on the outside.
Sainz was set on overtaking his team mate and set the car on a line in the slipstream of Charles Leclerc. This saw his Ferrari car move slowly left across the track while Perez held his line straight down the middle. The inevitable happened – both cars touched and on a street circuit this invariable ends up with a bit hit with the wall and showers of carbon fibre scattered across the circuit.
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Webber blames Checo
Mark Webber `speaking to Channel 4 put the Balme for the incident fairly and squarely with Perez. “It is a pathetic touch, an absolutely pathetic touch, with serious ramifications!“It is a pathetic touch, an absolutely pathetic touch, with serious ramifications!
Webber was asked if more of the blame must be shouldered by Perez and he was clear with his opinion. “He’s got more of the Ferrari in view. When you’re [looking in] the mirror [like Sainz], you’re not quite sure where he should be.
“Sergio should have given him more room to get down that straight. He was in great shape on tyres, and finishing the race quick.”
The FIA stewards investigated the incident and after long deliberations came to the conclusion it was a “racing incident.” Yet Sergio went from hero to zero in the Red bull camp as his car repair bill now approaches $6m for the year.
€5m in damages
“Sergio’s repair bill this year is impressive,” observed Mark Webber but the impact of such a large spend affects the team’s ability to develop the car and remain within the cost cap. Perez had four podiums in the first six races of the year but since then he has suffered two DNF’s together with two P17’s. His average finishing position in the remaining races since then has been P7 (6 points per race).
Perez racked up a rumoured €1m repair bill for Red Bull at the Hungarian Grand Prix and reportedly made him the first driver this season to exceed the €5m mark for 2024. With more crashes than podiums this put his seat at Red Bull under threat.
Yet Christian Horner remained true to his driver promising better times ahead at circuits where Checo has excelled in the past. His penultimate crash in Baku is estimated at @750,000 which once again takes him to the top of the repair bill list, now approaching 6m.
Perez’s biggest bill of the year came again in Monaco. Last year he crashed in qualifying one in the principality and suffered the humiliation of his car being raised by the cranes some hundred feet in the air.
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Monaco mayhem again
This year Perez again failed to make it out of Q1 in the principality and suffered the rear of the field mayhem at the start of the race. He was rear-ended by Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap having started down in 16th place, that crash was said to have cost Red Bull almost two million from there budget this season.
The subsequent crash in Hungary caused significant damage to the rear end of the car while the front end also took a hit. The damage was reportedly worth almost €1 million. Now Perez has deducted another €750,000 from Red Bull’s budget following his collision with Sainz with less than two laps to go in Baku.
The Mexican driver will certainly appear for the Singapore Grand Prix this coming weekend, a race he won back in 2022. Christian Horner’s rationale for retaining Checo’s services after the summer break was because there were tracks coming up at which Sergio had excelled in times past. Baku was a disaster for Red Bull and their number two driver, but maybe Singapore will relight Checo’s fire.
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Perez optimistic about Singapore
Having arrived in Singapore Perez is bullish about his chances this weekend. “It was such a shame in Baku for the whole Team, so much hard work had gone into getting a more competitive car on track for us and it was really showing,” Sergio appears encouraged by his pace in Azerbaijan but hopes he can go one better and finish on the podium at the arena Bay Circuit
“We had the pace all weekend and now it’s about converting that pace into a podium in Singapore. The car has shown it’s capable with this package, so we need to get the set-up right across the weekend and execute our qualifying and race plan perfectly,” he added.
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McLaren are the talk of the F1 paddock having turned around their cars which scored just 17 points in the first eight races of 2023 to one now considered to be the quickest on the current grid. Both their drivers have won their maiden Grand Prix this season and last time out Oscar Piastri doubled his career tally to two victories.
Much of the paddock talk now is how Red Bull have lost the performance in their all dominant car which delivered seven race wins for Max Verstappen in the first ten weekends but sees the world champion without a win in the last seven outings. Yet a new story is set to explode onto the pages of F1 news all about the apparent “illegal wing” McLaren are using on their car.
Oscar Piastri made a bold move into turn one to take the lead of the race in Baku following him having pitted for fresh rubber which Charles Leclerc admitted “took me by surprise.” The Aussie then defended against the Ferrari driver for some 31 laps with Leclerc in DRS range for most of the time, which is highly unusual for two reasons… READ MORE
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To be fair, the Monaco collision was all on Magnussen for not bothering to back off, but while the Baku one with Sainz was 50-50, Perez still had a greater chance of avoiding it.
As for his position in the team, he’s basically safe for the previously-announced drive beyond this year because of Red Bull’s reluctance to promote Tsunoda, Lawson’s inexperience, & Ricciardo’s performance level.