Here's the thing about Friday on the streets of Baku:Sergio Perez arrived with high hopes of delivering Cadillac their best Qualifying result of the season following some genuinely encouraging pace in practice. The Mexican driver, who has already tasted victory on these streets twice before, watched it all unravel when he failed to advance into Q2 and finished P20.
Unfortunately, the frustration didn't stop at the timing screens. Post-Qualifying, the stewards pulled Perez in to investigate an on-track incident involving none other than Oscar Piastri, whom the Cadillac blocked while the McLaren driver was pushing hard on a flying lap.
According to the official findings, the trouble brewed through Turns 18, 19 and 20 while Perez was on a preparation lap, busy weaving to get some heat into his tyres. The stewards noted that the Cadillac driver "had received two warnings of Piastri approaching and did not manage his preparation lap in accordance with the specific traffic-management instructions".
During the hearing, Piastri confirmed that he had indeed been forced to lift because of Perez, though he honestly didn't feel he lost significant lap time as a consequence. The stewards also weighed whether the whole affair crossed the line into dangerous territory, ultimately determining it did not after reviewing the evidence and hearing from both drivers. Still, the fact that Piastri had to lift was more than enough to establish that he was unnecessarily impeded.
As a direct result of the infringement, Perez was handed a three-place grid penalty for Saturday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Yet, because the Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll are facing larger grid penalties for engine changes, Perez will still somehow maintain his starting position of P20.
Further up the order, Carlos Sainz endured his own piece of misfortune. The Williams driver, who originally qualified in ninth, was hit with a five-place grid penalty for a failure to slow for yellow flags.
