Formula One F1 - Singapore Grand Prix - Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore - September 19, 2024 Red Bull's Sergio Perez ahead of the Grand Prix REUTERS/Edgar Su
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Red Bull's Sergio Perez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz said they had cleared the air with no hard feelings after last weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix collision and hoped for a good race in Singapore on Sunday.
The pair crashed out on the penultimate lap in Baku while fighting for third place, a collision that contributed to McLaren going 20 points clear in the championship.
"It was just wrong moves at the wrong time and I think in the end it's just irrelevant at the moment who is to blame," Perez told reporters on Thursday.
Sainz said separately the pair sat awkwardly and sadly together for 20 minutes in the medical centre after the crash while hooked up to heart rate monitors.
"We were looking at each other and saying: 'Mate, what the... happened there? And we were like: I don't know. But I promise I didn't do anything bad to you... I didn't close you off. I didn't do anything,' said the Spaniard.
"We were having this dialogue and trying to analyse what happened.
"It was a podium coming. In the end we kind of joked about it, so no hard feelings with each other."
Perez said talk on social media that he had hit Sainz's helmet or pushed the Ferrari driver's head in the immediate aftermath of the crash were exaggerated.
"I was talking to him, I didn't push his head. It looks worse on the video than it is. Carlos is one of my best mates in the drivers' group," said the Mexican.
"The last person that I would have liked to come together with is with Carlos. But we've turned the page and hopefully both of us can have a tremendous race."
Sainz said he had not heard what Perez said while still sitting in the car.
Perez hailed his mechanics for a tremendous job in fixing the shattered car and expected to have the latest specification in Singapore.
"It just shows how hard we're pushing and it's very encouraging and I really hope that I can pay them back with a great result on Sunday," he said.
(Writing by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Toby Davis)
