Lewis Hamilton was critical of several drivers' overtaking techniques after colliding with Pierre Gasly in the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint. Following Hamilton's crash in qualifying, the seven-time World Champion started Saturday's Sprint from ninth place. However, his hopes of recovery were dashed after he tangled with AlphaTauri's Gasly, picking up minor damage and sending the Frenchman off track. Gasly's attempted overtake was on the inside of Turn 1 and, whilst doing so, he drifted towards the left-hand side of the track. Hamilton was unable to move further left, owing to the presence of Williams' Alex Albon, and the Mercedes driver became sandwiched between the two, which caused the contact. A similar scenario occurred at the start of the British GP, where a slight direction change from Mercedes' George Russell triggered the accident that sent Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu into the barriers.
Hamilton "couldn't do anything" in Gasly clash
When assessing his Sprint event, Hamilton was critical of Gasly's direction changes prior to the corner. "I just got a bit of wheelspin, then I was under attack from the cars around, and then Pierre just moved over to the side," assessed Hamilton in conversation with media, including RacingNews365.com . "I don't understand why drivers do that when there's so much space to the right, and I couldn't do anything about it." Hamilton believes a similar approach was adopted by a couple of other drivers during that race, with the Briton also tangling with Sergio Perez in the same Sprint. "The same happened in Turn 3 with a Williams and Red Bull. I got some sort of damage, but at least could continue," added Hamilton. "It definitely wasn't [the] same, but it was driveable. I was just grateful to have finished and to get one point."
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