Carlos Sainz regrets his clash with Oscar Piastri in Hungary, but believes the McLaren driver could also have avoided the contact.
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Carlos Sainz has commented on the incident involving Oscar Piastri during the Hungarian Grand Prix, a clash that cost the McLaren driver the lead of the race.
On lap 38, while Sainz was battling with Fernando Alonso deep in the standings, Piastri was trying to lap them while protecting his lead over his teammate Lando Norris.
At the exit of the second corner, the Williams moved back in front of the McLaren, forcing Piastri to slow down before losing more time a few corners later. This setback allowed Norris to take the lead of the race after his pit stop.
Sainz insists he never intended to hinder his rival.
“To be honest, I am really sorry for Oscar. But this time, I think I have a good explanation for what happened.”
A blue flag issue at fault
The Williams driver mainly attributes this incident to a failure of the blue flag signaling system.
According to him, the light alerts that usually appear on the steering wheel were not working, which prevented him from realizing that Piastri was rapidly approaching behind him.
This explanation did not convince the McLaren driver, who called Sainz’s behavior “unacceptable” and advised him to “look at himself in the mirror”.
Nevertheless, the Spaniard believes the exceptional context must be taken into account.
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“Oscar could also have been more cautious”
Sainz considers that Piastri could also have adapted his approach knowing that several drivers had encountered problems with the blue flags during the race.
“I don’t know if he couldn’t have been a bit more cautious himself, knowing he was fighting for the podium and that, given the problems we were all having with the blue flags, he might have positioned himself differently.”
The Williams driver nevertheless acknowledges having accepted without discussion the five-second penalty imposed by the stewards.
“I accepted the five-second penalty, it doesn’t bother me when I’m fighting for 18th place.”
“It’s just a racing incident”
Sainz refuses, however, to take full responsibility for this clash.
In his view, it is above all a racing incident in particular circumstances.
“It’s a racing incident. I think Oscar will understand what happened now that he knows the circumstances.”
The Spaniard finally points out that Piastri’s retirement, which occurred a few laps later following a gearbox failure, was unrelated to their contact.
“He didn’t retire because of me, so it’s not my fault. It was just a contact and I’m mostly glad it didn’t have more consequences on his race, even though this situation was complicated for everyone.”
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