James Vowles pointed to an unlikely culprit in the controversial incident between Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz at the Formula 1 Hungarian GP: Fernando Alonso, who was nearby at the moment of contact.
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At the Hungaroring, the Spaniard and the Australian ended up touching at a certain point in the race. The Williams driver claimed problems with the circuit’s blue flag system, as well as being unaware of the Australian’s approach, which did not leave enough time to avoid the collision.
Speaking about the incident, the Williams team principal emphasized that when Piastri first approached Sainz and Alonso, it was the two-time world champion who was in the way. This happened before the Aston Martin driver made a bold move on Sainz at turn 1.
“Fernando received several blue flag signals throughout the lap and actually maintained his position ahead of Oscar. The correct order must be followed; therefore, Fernando should have yielded the position earlier. What happened was that he did not do this, but took the opportunity to overtake Carlos on the inside at Turn 1. Thus, at that moment, Carlos became the car behind, and in this situation, there are several signaling posts indicating that the position must be yielded,” he said.
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“However, on the stretch towards Turn 2, Carlos was already ahead again, making Fernando the car behind in front of the light panels. Again, at the next corner, Fernando went to the inside of Carlos, leaving Carlos in the position of the car behind. It is possible to see in the video that when Carlos returned to the racing line, it was at that moment that Oscar passed on the inside,” he added.
Even so, Vowles acknowledged that Williams was not without fault in the incident. “That was happening precisely when he was side by side with Fernando, on the stretch towards Turn 2. But it was not an attempt to block Oscar or anything like that. In fact, in that circumstance, there was another car coming from behind that probably should have yielded the position before us,” he concluded.
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