Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz still at odds after sudden accident at Azerbaijan GP

Carlos Sainz insists he did nothing “erratic” or “aggressive” to cause his late-race crash with Sergio Perez, but the Red Bull driver “expected” a penalty for his rival, which did not come.

Sainz and Perez triggered a virtual safety car towards the end of the race when they crashed on the track at Turn 3. Oscar Piastri took the win ahead of Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez crashed at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Although Perez battled with Piastri and Leclerc for the lead for much of the Grand Prix, he was battling with his Ferrari teammates for second place with three laps to go after Piastri broke the DRS and checked out in P1.

Perez challenged the leading Ferrari of Leclerc for second place, but as the Monegasque defended, the door opened for Sainz to overtake Perez and secure second place.

He then tried to fight Leclerc, but was also pushed back, allowing Perez to fight back and close in on the right rear of the Ferrari.

Sainz then appeared to drift to the left, the two collided and both drivers ended the race with their cars in the barrier.

Speaking to Sky F1 after addressing race control but before the verdict was announced, Sainz admitted he was unsure about the possible outcome of the decision.

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“I'm not sure,” he told Sky F1. “Honestly, you never know what can happen, but I'm 100 percent convinced that I didn't do anything wrong or aggressive.”

He added: “Honestly, a very, very unfortunate ending. First of all, I'm glad that Checo and I are OK.

“I drove a solid race and was very fast. I got back into the top three and was the fastest man on the track for the last 20 laps.

“But unfortunately, after overtaking Checo in turn one and battling Charles in turn two, there was a very unexpected collision on the exit of turn two and, to be honest, I still don’t understand how it happened.

“I didn't make any erratic maneuvers, I didn't drive aggressively toward Checo or anything like that, and for some reason I still don't understand, we collided and that was the end.”

However, Perez felt that Sainz was wrong and explained his thoughts.

“In my opinion, Carlos was going too fast to follow Charles,” he said. “So I think it was just the wrong time and moment and a huge accident occurred.”

“It's really a shame that this happened. There's nothing more to say.”

With Perez scoring no points and Max Verstappen only crossing the finish flag in fifth place, Red Bull has officially lost the lead in the Constructors' Championship and is now 20 points behind McLaren.

“It's a disaster for the championship. For both of us, it's a weekend like this where we definitely have a lot more on the table. It's a bit of a disaster,” lamented Perez.

The accident was the third incident of the weekend for Perez and Sainz. Both drivers had already received warnings earlier in the weekend for getting in each other's way. Race winner Piastri put it this way: “They finished the job!”

Despite Perez's opinion on the accident, the race stewards considered it “a racing accident in which neither driver was primarily at fault and took no further action.”

They explained: “The race stewards checked the drivers' driving line over the previous laps. Sainz was on or close to his normal racing line, which forms a slight angle away from the right-hand wall.

“From the exit to the point of impact, he moved about one car’s width further away from the wall.

“Perez moved about half a car width away from the same wall and stood more parallel to the right wall.

“So it was obvious that although Sainz was in front and had the right to take his line, he was heading slightly towards a car that he had limited visibility.

“At the same time, there was nothing unusual about Perez's line, but he could have done more to avoid the car that he had a better view of.”

Read more: Azerbaijan GP: Oscar Piastri wins three-driver thriller with Pérez and Sainz in the last moment of the race