Carlos Sainz criticised the FIA for their lack of safety car at the 2024 Azerbaijan GP following his crash with Sergio Perez, leaving both drivers vulnerable as cars continued to race to the flag at the Baku City Circuit.
The Ferrari and Red Bull both tangled following their eagerness to overtake Charles Leclerc for second place, in a bit of a strange incident where neither driver turned their wheel to the other but Sainz drifted across Perez by taking the racing line.
It saw both of them thrust into the wall as their afternoons came to an end in what was surely a safety car-worthy incident to ensure both remained safe, although the FIA had different ideas by refusing to deploy it.
Then both Haas cars and Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes arrived on the scene and were racing for points, although they slowed in time to comply with yellow flag rules, before continuing their scrap after the incident.
This left Sainz feeling uncomfortable with F1 cars hurtling towards debris scattered across the track, two drivers getting out of their cars and marshals trying to assist them presenting multiple chances for something to go gravely wrong.
“I was surprised to see more footage of the Haas drivers going through the yellow flag,” Sainz said of the lack of safety car by the FIA, to members of the media, including Total-Motorsport.com. “Obviously, going through all the debris with only a double yellow, which still means you need to be prepared to stop.
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“But in the middle of a race, being prepared to stop while racing is still a bit of a grey area. Then they overtook each other in Turn 3/4 and there was some racing going on after that.
“When I saw that, I didn’t like it, and I thought because of the severity of the incident, it should have been a safety car straight away. Some drivers have talked about red flags straight away but my feeling is as soon as you put a safety car out, if it’s safe in F1.
“And if you throw a red flag and then restart the race, it might be a bit unfortunate for the leader. So if we just finished the race under the safety car and throw it in early, that probably would have been the solution.”
Sainz reveals Perez conversation over Baku crash
The incident cost Sainz a first podium since the 2024 Austrian GP in June, as well as costing his team a valuable 18 points in their quest to catch McLaren and Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
Whilst for Perez, it took away his best chance of a podium since the 2024 Chinese GP in April as he races for his Red Bull future on the weekend he finally outperformed Max Verstappen, and the 34-year-old found his emotions boiling over.
After lambasting Sainz over the radio, upon getting out of the car Perez headed straight to him and appeared to push the Spaniard’s helmet and head backwards before offering some heated words to his colleague.
But the Ferrari driver admitted he didn’t remember that part of the crash and revealed both of their bewilderment at the incident, with neither feeling responsible, as he said they’re on good terms again.
“We discussed it afterward,” Sainz added to media at the Marina Bay Circuit for the 2024 Singapore GP. “We were awkwardly sat next to each other for 20 minutes in the medical centre, both with a heart-rate monitoring and controlling our vitals.
“We were looking at each other like, ‘What the f**k happened there?’ And we were like, ‘I don’t know,’ but we promised that we didn’t do anything bad to each other. He didn’t close me off, and I didn’t do anything.
“We were both sitting there, thinking how on earth we managed to not finish the race because it was such a chaotic moment. In the end, we joked about it.”
