Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has firmly placed the blame on McLaren racer Oscar Piastri for the duo’s crash at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Sainz was left with a hole in his sidepod following the collision on Turn One of the first lap as Piastri attempted to push up the inside of the corner before hitting the Spaniard and the wall – with both drivers eventually forced to retire from the race.
The pair were left unhurt but it was a big blow for McLaren after Piastri’s impressive second-placed finish in the Sprint on Saturday.
‘I don’t know what he was doing… He just turned in like I didn’t exist,’ Piastri said on his team radio after the incident.
Sainz, though, blamed Piastri after the race and said: ‘I was on the attack with Lewis [Hamilton], I went to pass him into Turn One, I think I had the move pretty much done and suddenly I received contact on my rear right by Oscar.
‘I honestly didn’t expect him to go and choose to be three into Turn One with him so much on the inside.
‘My opinion, I’ve been racing in Spa seven or eight years and everyone who has tried that move on the very inside has always generated an incident or a crash.
‘If you look back at past starts here that is normally the case. Maybe a bit of an experience mistake but it’s how it goes.
‘I didn’t expect him there, no. I did at one point see him [in my mirrors] that he was on the wall pretty much but I was more focused on my battle with Lewis.
‘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.’
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen came from sixth on the grid to win the Belgian Grand Prix to claim an eighth consecutive race victory.
It marked a 13th win in a row for Red Bull, who secured a one-two with Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez taking second place, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third.
‘It’s a new spot [winning from] P6!’ Verstappen said. ‘I knew that we had a great car and it was just about surviving Turn One. I could see it getting really tight so I was just going to stay out of that and it worked out.’
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