Carlos Sainz believes his spin exiting Turn 1 after coming close to team-mate Daniil Kvyat was nothing more than a normal racing incident in Baku.
The Russian ran wide into the first corner at the start before rejoining at some speed directly next to the Spaniard who had to avoid a potential collision but was also sent into a half spin, dropping him to the back of the field.
“What a crazy race!” Sainz declared initially.
“The start to it was already difficult: when I got to Turn 1 I saw Daniil rejoining the track and I had to quickly avoid crashing into him, which would’ve been a disaster for the team!
“I spun, but it was a sacrifice I had to do.
“It’s a racing incident for me,” he added. “I’m not going to blame him for that because I would have probably done the same.
“When you are the car behind you have to decide in milliseconds to either keep it flat and maybe have a contact with your teammate or turn the wheel and force yourself into a spin.”
The chaotic nature of the race, which saw the top two drivers near the back early on, would also help him regain positions finishing a deserved eighth position after struggling with the pace the whole weekend.
When asked if he would have expected that result place, Sainz replied: “No, definitely not, especially with the not-so-very-good pace that we’ve had all weekend, and I thought it would be tricky to come back but I actually started feeling pretty well with the car.
“We managed to overtake some people and suddenly we were P8! And I can say I’m satisfied with today’s result in the end!”