"Impossible to avoid" - Carlos Sainz reveals cause of Oscar Piastri clash in Hungary GP

Carlos Sainz says it was “impossible to avoid” hitting Oscar Piastri during the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix as he “has no idea I was about to get lapped.

Following his pit stop from the lead of Sunday’s race at the Hungaroring, Oscar Piastri found himself mired in traffic.

On lap 39 of 70, Piastri made contact with the Williams of Carlos Sainz exiting Turn 2, as the latter ran wide battling Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

It emerged after the race that there was an issue with the FIA’s blue flag system, with Sainz noting that he wasn’t aware he was about to be lapped.

“At this stage I had no idea I was about to get lapped,” he told the media after finishing two laps down in 18th.

“On top of that, I was in a big fight with Fernando, trying to undercut him into the corner, and I would have expected Oscar to have been there.

“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.

“Probably a bit better communication would have helped, but at the same time it was a racing thing.”

Sainz has “a pretty good excuse” why he shouldn’t have been penalised

Sainz believes the issue with the blue flags should have led the stewards to declare the clash between himself and Piastri as a racing incident.

He also suggests Piastri - who later dropped out with an unrelated gearbox failure - could have acted more cautiously at that point given the blue flag problems.

“To be honest, I’m really sorry for Oscar, but this time I think I have a pretty good excuse as to what happened,” he added.

“I don’t know if he could also have been a bit more careful given he is the one fighting for a podium, and positioned himself a bit more cautiously, because of the issues we were all having with the blue flags.

“But, OK, I took the five seconds, but I don’t care when I’m fighting for P18. It is what it is.”

Sainz then said: “It’s a racing incident; he probably understands by knowing what happened.

“He didn’t retire due to me or my fault. It was just a contact, and I’m glad it didn’t disturb his race too much. It’s tough when we are all having these issues.”