Jolyon Palmer explains why Sergio Perez was at fault for Baku crash with Carlos Sainz

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Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer has revealed why he thinks Sergio Perez was at fault for the dramatic late collision with Carlos Sainz during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Sergio Perez initially passed Charles Leclerc for second at Turn 1, before being immediately re-passed by the Ferrari driver.

This enabled Carlos Sainz to seize on an opportunity to take third, but coming out of Turn 2 both collided and crashed into the barriers.

The crash caused both to retire on the spot and Perez branded Sainz an “idiot” over team radio, as he gave up crucial points for Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship battle with McLaren.

Race winner Oscar Piastri noted how both Sainz and Perez had a few tangles during the Azerbaijan GP weekend, and quipped that they “finished the job” when observing the crash in the podium cool down room.

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The stewards investigated the incident after the race and deemed no driver was wholly at fault, adding “neither driver steered erratically and both kept their steering very neutral” and branded it a racing incident.

Analysing the crash on F1 TV, former driver Jolyon Palmer believes that while Sainz appeared to drift into the path of Perez, the Mexican was solely at fault for one reason.

Sergio Perez should have left more room for Carlos Sainz

Coming out of the corner, Perez slightly understeered towards Sainz and drifted into his path as both drivers attempted to make use of the slipstream from Leclerc ahead of them.

Palmer believes Perez should have done more to avoid the contact, as the sporting regulations allow the lead driver to dictate the line both drivers take in any overtaking scenario.

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“This is one that you could argue was a 50/50 racing incident. But if you look at the incident from Checo’s point of view, they are side-by-side on the entry to Turn 2, now Checo has the inside line,” said Palmer.

“Perez has to use all of the space on the left-hand side. Sainz is quite well ahead at this point, he’s entitled to move across while there is still space for Checo to track. I think he’ll be disappointed that Perez simply held his ground trying to keep the slipstream with Charles Leclerc ahead. For me, Perez had more space and didn’t use it.”

Red Bull lose Constructors’ Championship lead

The collision meant that Perez lost out on a potential 18 points for Red Bull and also promoted Lando Norris to fourth.

With Max Verstappen suffering a difficult race and finishing in fifth and Piastri’s win, it meant that McLaren overtook Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship and currently leads by 20 points.

It is an astonishing turnaround for the team considering they were over 100 points behind at the Chinese GP earlier this year.

Red Bull team advisor Helmut Marko has all but written off the Constructors’ title for the team this year, which could see them lose millions of pounds in prize money at the end of the season.