Carlos Sainz has revealed a system failure was the root cause of his incident with Oscar Piastri, who was contending for the lead of the Hungarian GP.
On Lap 39, as Piastri, who had pitted six laps earlier, was trying to stay ahead of team-mate Lando Norris, who had not stopped for the second time, collided with backmarker Sainz at Turn 2, who was in a battle with Fernando Alonso.
Sainz cut across Piastri's bow, with the McLaren forced to scoop up control but crucially lost just enough time to allow Norris to pit and emerge in the lead.
Sainz received a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Piastri, although the effects were then academic as Piastri suffered a gearbox failure with 14 laps to go when running in second place.
However, Williams' Sainz, who finished in 18th, described how a system failure on his steering wheel was responsible for him not seeing Piastri.
"We didn't have blue lights on the steering wheel, which normally, when we are in fights like that one, where we are fighting for position, it helps us to understand whether we're getting lapped or not," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365.
"So at this stage, I had no idea I was about to get lapped, and on top of that, yeah, I was in a big fight with Fernando, trying to undercut him into the corner, and I wouldn't have expected Oscar to be there.
"And even if he was there, he was in my dead spot on the angle, so it was impossible, honestly, from my side to avoid it. So better communication would have helped, but at the same time, it was a racing thing that sometimes happens.
"Something was wrong in the system, and today it was a very difficult day to control the blue flag.
"There are very clear rules around it. If we were not so slow, there wouldn't be so many blue flags, so we know what the solution is. Last year there were almost no blue flags because the whole field was within half a second, and this year we were getting lapped twice."
Get the latest F1 news from RacingNews365 directly in your Google feed! Click on the link below and you’ll see your favourite F1 website appearing even more often. That way, you’ll never miss any news, analyses, interviews, or exclusives.
Follow RacingNews365 on GoogleMost read
In this article
Never miss a thing from the Formula 1 season! Add the 2026 F1 schedule to your calendar at the touch of a button. Subscribe below and put the dates and times of every race directly on your PC or smartphone, so you don't miss a second from the new season.
Download the F1 calendar Download the F1 calendar
A variant with just the race and qualifying is also available.
Click here to download it..
Join the conversation!