Force India’s Sergio Perez as left disappointed after his race in Baku, as he retired from his first race of the season. The Mexican was running in a strong fourth position before he and his teammate Esteban Ocon collided at a safety car restart.
Ocon attempted to overtake Perez up the inside of turn 2 but on the exit, the two made contact with both cars suffering damage. Perez came off worse, and despite repairing his car during the red flag period, the stewards deemed that it was done illegally, handing him a penalty.
“It’s a shame to retire from a race like this because I think we would have been in a position to win the race,” claimed Perez.