Sainz explains Piastri contact as blue-light failure complicates Hungarian GP
Sainz accepts penalty after Piastri contact
Carlos Sainz has defended his actions after colliding with Oscar Piastri while being lapped during the Hungarian Grand Prix, insisting that a disabled blue-light system and the intensity of his battle with Fernando Alonso left him with little chance to avoid the contact.
The Williams driver was fighting Alonso for 14th position when he cut back across the track and clipped the front of Piastriâs McLaren. Piastri escaped without damage, but lost valuable time and momentum while battling team-mate Lando Norris. His frustration was evident over team radio.
The FIA stewards noted that Piastri had been in Sainzâs blind spot, while the Williams pit wall had communicated the approaching McLaren. Sainz, however, said his attention was fixed on Alonso and that the steering-wheel blue lights, normally a key additional warning for lapped traffic, had been disabled.
A GPS communication issue had produced rogue warnings during the early laps, forcing the system to be switched off. Drivers still had to obey waved blue flags and the blue panels around the circuit, although those panels were not displaying the relevant car numbers.
âSo at this stage, I had no idea I was about to get lapped,â Sainz said. âI was in a big fight with Fernando, trying to undercut him into the corner, and I wouldnât have expected Oscar to be there.â
He added that Piastri was positioned in his âdead spotâ, making the incident impossible to avoid from his perspective. Sainz nevertheless accepted the five-second penalty and apologised to Piastri, describing the collision as a racing incident.
A costly sequence for Williams
Sainz also suggested that Piastri might have positioned his car more cautiously, given the blue-flag difficulties affecting the field. He acknowledged, however, that drivers remain responsible for obeying the rules.
âIf we were not so slow, there wouldnât be so many blue flags,â he said, arguing that the ultimate solution was for the slower cars to close the performance gap and avoid being lapped.
The penalty was only one part of a difficult afternoon. Sainz made three pit stops, with the five-second sanction taken at the second stop, and ultimately finished 18th. He said the race had initially been encouraging, with Williams able to keep pace with Haas and even undercut one of its cars.
A late, unnecessary pit stop then dropped him behind Oliver Bearman and Alex Albon. Sainz said he needed to understand the decision, which left him questioning why the team had made the call. The incident therefore became a double blow: it disrupted Piastriâs fight and turned what Sainz viewed as a promising race into a lowly finish. Read more on the Sainz-Piastri contact and its consequences.
Simone Scanu
Heâs a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.