Oscar Piastri launched a scathing attack on Carlos Sainz after their collision at the Hungarian Grand Prix, accusing the Williams driver of costing him the race lead.
Piastri’s race ultimately ended in retirement when his gearbox failed as he tried to chase down his teammate Lando Norris to regain P1.
Oscar Piastri hits out at Carlos Sainz over Hungarian Grand Prix collision
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Piastri’s Hungarian Grand Prix was a tale of two parts as he snatched the lead away from his teammate through Turn 3 on the opening lap, using the switchback to overtake Norris, who had run a bit wide.
The Australian driver continued to lead through the first round of pit stops, and was given the first choice in strategy into the second round.
He pitted from the lead, which put him into traffic in the form of backmarkers – Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz, who were battling for position but outside of the points.
Piastri went to lap Sainz only for the two to collide at Turn 2. The McLaren driver was fortunate not to spin, and his car escaped damage in the incident.
It did, however, cost him time. That meant when Norris stopped seven laps after his teammate, he came out eight-tenths of a second ahead.
Piastri was shocked by Sainz’s failure to adhere to the blue flags.
“There’s blue flags on all the marshal signals,” Piastri bemoaned to PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Budapest. “I was right behind him, and I couldn’t believe what happened.
“Getting crashed into by a lapped car is never one of the things you expect that can go wrong in your race.
“I don’t really care if he didn’t see me. The fact that he didn’t, or no one told him, or there was a lack of complete awareness, is unacceptable.”
But put to him that Sainz says he not only has a “pretty good excuse” but that Piastri should’ve been “a bit more careful”, the Australian blasted Sainz.
“I mean, he was fighting Fernando for last place like it was the world championship,” he said. “It cost me the lead of the race.
“So he’s quite critical of others, and others have given him some stink before for being frustrating on track, and when you go and do something like that, I think maybe you should look in the mirror a bit.”
At the end of a wretched afternoon for Piastri, the McLaren driver said “annoyed is not the word I would use, but there’s a multitude that I would with Carlos.”
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In a separate interview with Viaplay, Piastri was even more critical in his comments.
“That’s got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen on a race track,” he said. “I don’t really care what excuse he gave.”
Piastri would go on to retire from the Grand Prix due to a gearbox issue, while Norris claimed his first win as F1’s reigning world champion.
Piastri is seventh in the drivers’ standings, 36 points behind Norris, who is P5.
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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