Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing (Lap 49, Accident): 8/10
The big question with Sergio Perez' rating is, how hard do you rip into him for a split second mistake at the end of the race? And was it even his mistake anyway? Up to that point it had been the Mexican's best performance since China. Normally he starts off slowly and takes several sessions before he's getting close to his team mate's pace, but this week he was on it from the start and went further ahead as Max Verstappen faltered. His job in qualifying was to tow Verstappen up the grid but the Dutch driver didn't have the pace and it was Perez who ended up on the second row. In the race, Perez clinically dispatched Carlos Sainz at the start and then played a waiting game watching Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc use up their tyres battling it out at the front. Unfortunately when he made his move on the penultimate lap with a potential victory within reach, Sainz had the same idea and disaster ensued. While it's probably fair to say that both drivers bore equal responsibility, it was Perez with most to lose who therefore should have been more conservative.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (Lap 49, Accident): 8/10
Much as was the case with Sergio Perez, the key issue to resolve in arriving at a rating for Carlos Sainz is how much weight to give to the collision that ended the Azerbaijan GP under a VSC on Sunday. Up to then, Sainz had been consistently strong across the weekend, although Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc looked to have the edge on him. Sainz was quicker than Perez on Saturday and started ahead of him on the second row on Sunday, but lost out at the start after his own initial jab at Oscar Piastri was parried. After that it seemed that Sainz had settled for P4, until quite late in the day when suddenly everyone stopped managing their tyres and went for broke instead. Sainz tried to slipstream his team mate on the penultimate lap, but drifted out of turn 2 seemingly unaware that Perez was on the attack and coming in the other direction. Sainz was just ahead and had less visibility, but at the same time it was his move that arguably sparked the contact. For that reason we're going to go easy on whose fault it was when it comes to the ratings; they'll both be hurting enough already.
