Oscar Piastri blasts Carlos Sainz for 'complete lack of awareness' in Hungary F1 tangle
Oscar Piastri was left fuming at Carlos Sainz after their tangle in Hungary.
A furious Oscar Piastri has accused Carlos Sainz of lacking awareness following an “unacceptable” clash during Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
Piastri was trying to weave his way through lapped traffic following his second pit stop when he dramatically made contact with Sainz, who was busy racing Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
The Williams driver was seemingly unaware of Piastri and edged into the side of the Australian’s McLaren at Turn 3. While Piastri did not pick up damage, the incident cost him vital time to team-mate Lando Norris in their fight for the lead.
It emerged after a race that a system malfunction had been behind an unexpected amount of drivers ignoring blue flags in the race. But Piastri did not see that as an excuse, telling Sainz to “look in the mirror”.
"Yeah, I knew there were blue flag [issues], but there were blue flags on all the marshal signals," Piastri told media after Sunday’s 70-lap race.
"I was right behind him. 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 and no one told him or there was a lack of complete awareness is unacceptable.
"He was fighting Fernando for last place like it was the world championship. It cost me the lead of the race. He's quite critical of others.
“Others have given him some stick before for being frustrating on track. When you go and do something like that, I think maybe you should look in the mirror a bit.”
Piastri ultimately retired from the race on lap 56 after suffering a gearbox failure in his McLaren, while reigning world champion Norris claimed his first victory of the season.
Sainz, meanwhile, insisted it was “impossible” to avoid Piastri.
“At this stage I had no idea I was about to get lapped,” the Spaniard said.
“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.”
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