Controversial episode
There was a lot of discussion, in the post-race of the Hungarian GP, about the clash between Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri in Budapest: a particular episode because the two were not fighting for track position, quite the opposite. Sainz was at the back of the pack and was supposed to be lapped while Piastri at that moment was the leader of the Grand Prix; the contact between the Williams #55 and the McLaren #81 understandably infuriated the Australian who, because of this episode, lost the race lead to the full advantage of his teammate Lando Norris. From that moment on, everything went wrong for Piastri and the papaya team driver was forced to retire before the end of the race due to a technical problem.
Speaking to journalists, Piastri used very harsh words towards Sainz, defining the Spaniard’s behavior as “the stupidest thing ever seen on a circuit“. However, decidedly more conciliatory words came from McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, who in the traditional post-race press conference tried instead to soften the tone towards the Spaniard, who, among other things, is a former McLaren team driver.
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Stella cools tempers
“From what I understand, at that moment the blue panels were not working, so today it was more difficult than usual for the drivers at the back to realize what was happening in their mirrors – commented Stella – and Carlos is a very correct and fair driver, so I am sure it was absolutely not intentional. It was a bit of a shame for Oscar, though: he lost a few seconds there. And at the same time, once Lando had a clear track, his pace was simply incredible. I believe he gained about half a second per lap. And this pace allowed Lando to stay ahead of Oscar after the pit stop“.
