Sainz squarely blames Piastri for first lap incident in Belgium

Carlos Sainz says Oscar Piastri was “optimistic” with the move he was attempting on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix as both drivers ultimately retired due to contact.

Piastri was on the inside of Sainz who had moved to overtake Lewis Hamilton, and the three cars were squeezed at the first corner, leaving Piastri to make contact with both Sainz and the inside wall as the gap closed. Sainz limped on with heavy damage in the hope of a red flag until rain cleared and his car was retired, and the Ferrari driver suggests a lack of experience at Spa led to Piastri triggering the incident.

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“I think I was on the attack with Lewis and pretty much had the move down into Turn 1, made the apex cleanly, but unfortunately Oscar was trying to do a bit of an optimistic move on me I think,” Sainz said.

“A bit of a shame because when you review the past races here in Spa and you know what has been a typical Turn 1 incident it’s exactly that -- everyone who tries the inside line in Turn 1 and tries to make it around there normally generates an incident or a crash and this time it was my turn to receive.

“At some point someone needs to back out and it’s the guy who’s alongside my rear right I think who needs to back off, not me and let him pass me into Turn 1 -- especially when I’m pretty much having my move done on Lewis.”

Piastri felt there was no clear blame on either side but pointed to Sainz moving late just before the braking zone as the catalyst eventually leading to the space running out when he could no longer react.

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“I think it’s quite firmly in the category of a lap one, Turn 1 incident,” Piastri said. “I got a good start, got my nose alongside. When we got to the braking zone, Carlos moved to the right and locked up. I also had to try and avoid that a bit, and then from there to the apex my options were quite limited in where I can go.

“I’ll look back over it and see if there’s more I could have done but it’s a shame we’re standing here and not on track.

“I think looking back on it, we both could have done things a bit differently … It’s a very tight Turn 1. Carlos also didn’t have many options from where Lewis was either. A shame...”

While Sainz wanted Piastri to back out of the move, the Australian rookie says there wasn’t enough time or space for him to do so that close to the corner.

“I think, from Carlos’ point of view, the move to the right surprised me a bit. From there I was quite limited. Maybe I could have [braked] later and been more alongside, but it’s very easy to say that with hindsight. I think once I was in that position it was quite hard to go forward or go backwards and I was kind of stuck; I tried to do the best I could from that position.”

The collision left Piastri crawling through Eau Rouge at low speed and he admits it was a nerve-wracking moment that he had to deal with.

“I think I had a left front puncture, think the right front was broken as well, going up Eau Rouge with about 180 degrees of front lock and still going straight... So something was clearly broken.

“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure. I think I was quite lucky that everyone got around me before Eau Rouge. Then, the way the steering was, I kind of managed to get to the left side of the track before the bottom of Eau Rouge, so from that point it was OK, but it’s not very fun going around a slightly curved straight when you couldn’t steer.”