Perez and Sainz crash out on penultimate lap in Azerbaijan GP

Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were involved in a huge accident in the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as they squabbled over a podium place.

With the Red Bull of Perez battling for the lead for much of the race, the Mexican made a move on the lead Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, only to be backed into Sainz.

Sainz battled past and was then tussling with team-mate Leclerc, only for Perez to fight back and pull alongside before the two collected one another after turn two.

Both smashed into the barrier and missed out on respective big points hauls, with Perez, in particular, fuming over the team radio.

Having struggled for form of late, Perez was back to his best on the streets of Baku and had stayed on the back of Leclerc’s battle with race winner Oscar Piastri for the second half of the grand prix.

Sainz was more measured, asking “what happened” as the pair clambered free of their wrecked cars, with a virtual safety car deployed for the remainder of the race.

The shunt actually helped Leclerc hang on to second, having seen his rear tyres drop off a cliff after following the McLaren of Piastri for so long.

It also saw George Russell take the third step on the podium after a fairly quiet race, although he did make a good move to pass Max Verstappen earlier in the race.

The incident was good news for the second McLaren of Lando Norris, who recovered from his Q1 elimination on Saturday to take fourth, as well as the fastest lap, to actually close up the gap on Verstappen at the top of the drivers’ championship.