Crash in Baku 2024

Carlos sainz is not my favorite driver. I don’t even like him because I think he’s too whiny. Then again he’s no different from the rest with Lando being the worst offender in my opinion. But Carlos didn’t deserve to end the Azerbaijan GP in that way. Especially after that magnificent move he pulled. His moves left Perez flat footed after Charles defended turn 1 like a champion. Carlos didn’t tip toe, didn’t sneak, but strutted confidently past the Mexican. It felt like Checo was slowing down for double waved yellows. Sainz’s confidence was supreme enough that he almost whizzed past his teammate. He only backed out of the move because he didn’t have the room to pull it off. 

Carlos’ Brilliant Move

Then, at turn two Carlos was ahead of Checo accelerating down the tree lined straight. Yes, that same tree line straight that is as dusty as a hoarders cupboard top. This year, the Baku track was so dusty. Word is that they didn’t spend time cleaning it this year like they had in years past. Down the tree lined run we see Carlos on the right close to the wall and Checo is on his left and behind. Checo’s front-right wheel in line with Carlos’s rear-left. Then we cut to another camera angle. As if by magic, we see Carlos’ Ferrari emerge from the shadows riding the left wall with its entire left side wrecked. In tow we see Checo’s Red Bull RB20 stuck to and hanging onto Carlos’s rear wheel. 

Under Pressure, Bad Decision

I watched the replay from Carlos’ on-board. The boy did nothing wrong. Keep in mind, I’m not a Carlos fan. I’d rather see him behind Charles on any race day. I’ve seen him pull some very childish moves in the past. His antics and whining, my God the whining, have made any love I had for the Spaniard dissolve many years ago. As we’ve seen in many past races, Checo chokes when he’s losing places. Checo chokes because he doesn’t want Red Bull’s resident walking corpse on his ass. Either calling him yet another racist slur, or worse, letting him go from his driver slot. We all know how mercurial Red Bull are with their driver line up. I’m flabbergasted that Checo even made it this far. 

So when Checo chokes, fear takes over and with fear comes desperation. Concentration flies out the halo and dumb moves result. In this case he seemed like he was looking for a hug and chose to stay within arms reach of Carlos. Carlos had every right to get away from the dirtier part of the track and move away from the wall. But did Checo expect this and then move away? No. It looked like the malingering Mexican was starting his defense of turn 3 from the apex or turn 2. Well done, hold Carlos to the outside while you still have a lot of distance to cover. We see an utter garbage move that ended up costing him and Carlos. Moves like this aren’t made from a clear head. They’re the moves of a driver who hasn’t learned despite many years of being run through the mill. They’re moves of someone that still falls apart when the pressure goes up after dropping a couple of positions.