Carlos Sainz explained after the Hungarian GP that a system malfunction was the basis for his collision with Oscar Piastri. While the Australian was fighting for the win, he lapped the Spaniard. Sainz, however, left no room for the McLaren driver, who promptly collided with his Williams and was forced off track. Sainz received a time penalty for the incident, but emphasized that a technical problem prevented him from seeing the approaching McLaren.
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The incident occurred on lap 39 of the Hungarian GP. Piastri, who had pitted six laps earlier, was trying to keep teammate Lando Norris virtually behind him – the Brit had not yet made a second stop. In turn two, however, Piastri collided with backmarker Sainz, who was at that moment engaged in a battle with Fernando Alonso. The mishap cost Piastri so much time that Norris was able to safely make his pit stop and inherited the lead.
‘Much fewer blue flags last year’
Although Piastri would later retire due to a gearbox problem, Sainz still received a time penalty. The Spaniard, who ultimately finished eighteenth, stated that a problem with his steering wheel meant he had not received a warning that the McLaren driver was approaching. “We didn’t have blue lights on the steering wheel,” he responded to the press. “Normally that helps to see if we are being lapped or not. So at that moment, I had no idea. Moreover, I was involved in a fierce battle with Fernando (Alonso, ed.). I wanted to attack him in the corner, but didn’t know Oscar (Piastri, ed.) was behind me.”
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“He was also exactly in my blind spot, so it was honestly impossible to avoid a collision. Better communication would have helped, but at the same time, it’s a racing error that sometimes happens,” explained the Williams driver. “Something was wrong with the system.” Sainz acknowledged that the rules around blue flags are clear, but also pointed to the large speed difference between Williams and the competition. “There are very clear rules for it. If we hadn’t been so slow, there wouldn’t have been so many blue flags, so we know what the solution is,” he shifted the focus to the flawed FW48. “Last year there were hardly any blue flags because the entire field was within half a second of each other, but this year we were lapped twice.”
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