Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz’s Bad History Have Fans Worried For Imola GP

Despite a brilliant final lap on the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari and going second fastest in qualifying, Oscar Piastri will start the race from P5. The stewards found the young Australian guilty of impeding Kevin Magnussen during the first part of the session. The Haas driver was on his final flying lap of the session and had to back out knocking him out in Q1.

This is exactly why the McLaren man received a 3-place grid penalty. The penalty now puts him right on the tail of Carlos Sainz. The two have had a tumultuous track record in their short time racing each other. They crashed into each other at Turn 1 during the 2023 Belgian GP. Neither of them taking the blame for the collision gave birth to their on-track animosity.

Their latest coming together was in the recent race in Miami. The pair fought tooth and nail for a position at the Miami International Autodrome. After the intense battle and coming together, Sainz passed Piastri to gain track position.

However, on this occasion, it was the #81 driver who got the benefit of the doubt. Sainz received a 5-second penalty for his troubles and was demoted to P5 after the race.

Keeping their history in mind, the fans are expecting a similar outcome in the upcoming race. Similar to Belgium, Sainz will be starting the race one position ahead of Piastri. Now, it remains to be seen if the battle will begin from Turn 1 or if the two will lock horns later in the race.

Fans expect fireworks between Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz given their starting positions in Imola

Whether it will be from the get-go or after the race settles down, there will be a battle. The F1 fandom made it evident with their reaction to Piastri’s demotion news.

One fan hilariously dragged Charles Leclerc into the conversation and made it a three-way battle.

The two are fierce competitors with no desire to back down from a fight. It will be interesting to see who comes out ahead in the opening lap of what should be an existing race in Imola.