'Not a Verstappen and Ricciardo' - Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon react to Dutch GP clash
Williams Formula 1 pair Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have laid to rest any frustration following a late-race collision at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz has apologised to his Williams team-mate Alex Albon after a late-race collision at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Williams pair were racing outside the points in the closing stages of Sunday's Zandvoort race, when Sainz moved to the inside line for Turn 1 to defend from Albon.
However, a locked brake saw the Spaniard skittle into his team-mate, causing race-ending damage to Albon's car, while he was forced to pit. This dropped him to the back of the pack, while his pain was then increased through a 10-second penalty for being "wholly" at fault for the collision.
"It was a fair penalty," conceded Sainz. "It was a bit of a surprise when I went to defend. I had really worn hard tyres and was struggling a lot with the car, with the pace of the race.
"When I went to brake on the inside, there is a massive bump on the inside of Turn 1 that, when you are further on the inside, it gets bigger.
"I just hit it with the plank and I had the front tyres in the air, and as soon as I touched the brake, I locked up, and I took Alex with me, which is the worst possible outcome for that race, because it's not like we were fighting for anything.
"But honestly, it caught me so much by surprise. Apologies to him, because it's the last thing I wanted."
For Albon, the larger frustration of the race was not the collision, but that Williams had missed the chance to score points by mimicking Fernando Alonso's one-stop plan with Aston Martin - the veteran finishing in a season-best ninth place.
"The biggest frustration is the race itself, because I think we were in a good race," Albon said.
"We were in front of Fernando for most of that race. Maybe not with this pace, but I think we boxed too early. We came out behind a group of seven or eight cars. I need to understand why we boxed so early, because we genuinely had a chance to score points today."
On the incident with Sainz, he added: "It's not a Verstappen and Ricciardo, it's less serious than that.
"It was simply on him. I saw him lock up, so I immediately tried to follow him in a straight line. But we made contact, and my floor was pretty damaged, so we had to box."
Sam joined Crash.net in February 2026 with extensive experience in motorsport media, having covered numerous championships around the world.
