Former Haas Method 1 workforce principal Guenther Steiner has argued that Carlos Sainz ought to have obtained a harsher penalty for his collision with Oscar Piastri on the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Throughout the race on the Hungaroring, Sainz made contact with Piastri’s McLaren whereas being lapped. Piastri had pitted from the lead of the race, however Sainz didn’t yield the place because the McLaren driver made his manner across the backmarkers. The Spaniard was subsequently handed a five-second penalty by the stewards.
The leniency of the sanction was attributed to widespread technical points throughout the grand prix. The FIA cited a defective GPS monitoring system and a glitch within the blue flag software program as mitigating elements.
However, talking on The Purple Flags Podcast, Steiner dismissed the governing physique’s reasoning, insisting that the usual, harsher penalty ought to have been utilized to set a precedent for backmarkers.
“Proper or mistaken, nothing would have modified anyway,” Steiner mentioned, noting that Sainz was already operating behind the sphere. “So simply make a degree that you simply don’t try this below no matter software program glitch or no matter it’s. Blue flags, they’re on the market. Get 10 seconds as regular.”
He added: “Don’t attempt mitigating circumstances. Who cares about mitigating circumstances? It was clearly a blue flag. 10 seconds is normal and he ought to have gotten that. Nothing would have modified anyway.”
Carlos Sainz, Williams
Photograph by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
He added: “First, it’s essential to make it possible for the programs work. I believe they use that as a mitigating [factor] as a result of they know that they did not assist the state of affairs.”
The collision proved pricey for Piastri, damaging his possibilities of victory as his team-mate Lando Norris took the lead. Piastri in the end retired from the race as a result of a gearbox concern.
Sainz went on to complete 18th on the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Williams driver heads into the summer season break fifteenth within the drivers’ championship with six factors. Piastri presently sits seventh with 92 factors.
F1 will return for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on 21-23 August.
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