Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri made contact on the first lap of the Belgian GP on Sunday. This affected both their races, with Piastri retiring his car followed by Sainz. After the race, Sainz explained that while most people blame him for the poor start, it was Piastri’s inexperience that seemingly ended both their outings.
Sainz locked up at the start of the race which put him in a vulnerable position at P4. Still, he decided to make a move on Hamilton and to avoid colliding with the seven-time world champion, he swerved right and made contact with Piastri instead.
Drama at the start 😮
Perez powers past Leclerc while Piastri and Sainz tangle at Turn 1 #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/sXBKlr5H6Z
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 30, 2023
Piastri suffered heavy damage and tumbled down the order. Ultimately, he retired his car after just one lap around the circuit, whereas Sainz kept going, despite getting significant damage himself. The majority of the F1 community blamed Sainz for spoiling Piastri’s race, but the Spaniard gave an explanation in the post-race interview, pleading his innocence. Instead, he blamed Oscar Piastri.
Oscar Piastri is not experienced enough according to Carlos Sainz
After the race, Sainz explained why he doesn’t think he was at fault for ruining Piastri’s race. The 28-year-old justified his actions and insisted that all he was trying to do was move past Hamilton. While doing so, he indirectly took a dig at Piastri, by labeling his experience as a possible reason behind both of their races ending in disaster.
“It was very unfortunate,” he said in the post-race interview. “I think the more experienced drivers know that you don’t go for the inside in Spa, but I don’t want to blame him too much. I didn’t miss the apex or anything, I went to attack Lewis. And Oscar went to attack Lewis and me which I think in my opinion was a bit optimistic.”
He’s side by side with Lewis here.
He’s making the move on Lewis here.
Piastri barely has his front wing alongside Sainz yet still thinks he should go for the move, making it 3 wide?
Look at it. Look at all the cars positions and then look at Piastri. pic.twitter.com/banXOoC5vC— KingCrab (@R4YM4N_) July 30, 2023
Sainz used his experience of racing at Spa into account, and came to a conclusion that Piastri shouldn’t have tried to overtake him on the inside like he did. Piastri, on the other hand, had a very different point of view as to what happened with the Ferrari driver.
Piastri has his say on the incident with Sainz
Oscar Piastri was having an incredible weekend in Spa, and experienced what was arguably his best day in F1 so far on Saturday. He started the sprint from the front row, and finished P2. Starting the Grand Prix from fifth, Piastri had high hopes from his outing on Sunday. Unfortunately, the Melbourne-born driver’s race ended after just a lap.
Unlike Sainz, Piastri doesn’t think he did anything wrong. However, he also acknowledged that there wasn’t much Sainz could have done to avoid the shunt.
A shame to have a solid race weekend end in a DNF, but we’ll take the positives for the second half of the season 💪 #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/CMc1uMZxUM
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 30, 2023
“I’ve seen the video, it’s difficult,” he said. “Carlos didn’t have much space on his outside. But I also didn’t really get given that many options. It’s a tricky one. I’m sure we’ll see if I could have done a few things differently. Just a shame to be out so early.”
Both Sainz and Piastri will be ruing on a missed opportunity to grab some decent points for their respective teams at the Belgian GP. F1 will now break for the summer. The next race takes place in three weeks time at Zandvoort.
