Carlos Sainz has revealed that a malfunction in the FIA's blue flag system was the root cause of his collision with Oscar Piastri during Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring, insisting it was "impossible to avoid" the McLaren driver.
The incident occurred on lap 39 of the 70-lap race when Piastri, running near the podium positions, came upon the Williams of Sainz at Turn 2. Sainz was engaged in a heated battle with Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin and had no warning that Piastri was approaching to lap him.
"This time I think I have a pretty good excuse," Sainz told media after finishing two laps down in 18th place. "At this stage I had no idea I was about to get lapped. On top of that, I was in a big fight with Fernando, trying to undercut him into the corner."
The Spaniard explained that a failure in the blue flag display system meant he was not alerted to Piastri's approach in time. The blue flags, used to signal slower cars that a faster car is about to lap them, did not function correctly during that phase of the race, contributing to the confusion.
"I would have expected Oscar to have been there," Sainz added. "And even if he was there, or where I would have expected, he was in my [blind] spot on the angle. So, it was impossible from my side to avoid him."
Stewards reviewed the incident and handed Sainz a five-second time penalty, though the Williams driver argued it should have been classified as a racing incident given the blue flag system failure. Piastri, who was visibly frustrated by the contact, later retired from the race due to an unrelated gearbox issue.
The blue flag malfunction was acknowledged after the race, with multiple drivers reporting inconsistencies in how warnings were relayed throughout the field.
Sources
- https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1101936/1/impossible-avoid-carlos-sainz-reveals-cause-oscar-piastri-clash-hungary-gp
