Sergio Perez believes Force India teammate Esteban Ocon's "very aggressive" driving, which led to an intra-team collision, cost Force India a potential victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Following a Safety Car restart in Baku, the two drivers came together on the exit of Turn 2 while running fourth and fifth. The contact resulted in damage to both cars, with Perez ultimately forced into retirement.
The Mexican felt the chaotic nature of the race, coupled with the fact both drivers were ahead of eventual race-winner Daniel Ricciardo at the time of the clash, had opened the door for Force India to claim its first win in Formula One and take a double podium. Perez was quick to blame his teammate for the incident, which he labelled as "totally unacceptable".
"We were really close to the win with all what happened afterwards we could've won," Perez bemoaned. "We definitely had everything to be on the first step [of the podium] today and things happen and then I was doing a great race. I'm very, very sad for my team because they've done a fantastic job working so hard and at the end of the day we are just end players.
"The drivers are only a part of the team and we have to work the same and we cannot be doing these types of incidents. Between us, we ruin a great opportunity for the team and frankly I feel I couldn't have done anything to avoid the accident, I was next to the wall and there was no room for me to go.
"It's a big shame. I think it was all very aggressive. In all my career I've had teammates I've fought really hard with but always with enough room not to do what happened and I think what happened is totally unacceptable for the team."
Despite being forced to pit with a puncture, Ocon was able to continue and recovered to finish sixth. The Frenchman was left at odds with Perez as to who was at fault for the incident -- which came just two weeks after Perez had refused to allow Ocon past to challenge Ricciardo for the final podium spot at the Canadian Grand Prix.
"I'm happy with the performance and disappointing with the potential we had," Ocon explained. "Obviously it's never nice to get an incident like that in the race, and in the end me and Checo lost a lot of places. I had the recovery which was quite nice at the end, still to get some points for the team.
"He touched me after Turn 1, and he went on. I don't know if he saw me or not. For sure we will discuss it internally and it should not happen for the future. Unfortunately it's racing, it happens sometimes but we'll see. We're annoyed for what happened really."