Carlos Sainz explained what motivated his incident with Oscar Piastri during the Formula 1 Hungarian GP. The Williams driver stated that a system failure in the car prevented him from realizing he was about to be overtaken by the then race leader.
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The contact happened on lap 39, when Piastri was trying to preserve his position ahead of teammate Lando Norris, who had not yet made his second pit stop. At that moment, Sainz was battling for position with Fernando Alonso and ended up cutting in front of the McLaren at turn 2.
The maneuver cost Piastri precious time. The Australian managed to stay on track, but lost enough time for Norris to make his pit stop and return to the lead. Subsequently, the stewards applied a five-second penalty to Sainz for causing the collision. The outcome of the dispute ultimately lost importance when Piastri retired from the race due to a gearbox failure fourteen laps from the end.
After finishing the race only in 18th position, Sainz detailed the problem faced by Williams: “We didn’t have the blue lights on the steering wheel, which normally, in situations like this, when we are battling for position, help to understand if we are a lap down or not,” he stated.
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The Spaniard explained that, in addition to the failure, he was focused on his battle with Alonso: “At that moment, I had no idea I was about to be overtaken. I was in a big battle with Fernando, trying to overtake him on the entry to the corner, and I didn’t expect Oscar to be there,” he said.
Sainz also highlighted that Piastri was in his blind spot: “Even if he was there, he was in my blind spot due to the car’s angle. Honestly, from my side, it was impossible to avoid. Better communication would have helped, but these things sometimes happen in races,” he added.
Finally, the Williams driver acknowledged the difficulties faced by the team throughout the season: “Something was wrong with the system, and today was a very difficult day to manage blue flags. If we weren’t so slow, there wouldn’t be so many situations like that. Last year, practically the entire grid was separated by half a second. This year, we are being lapped twice,” he concluded.
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