McLaren aim dig at Carlos Sainz as duo clash over Spa collision

Henry Valantine 30 Jul 2023 7:30 PM

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri is pinched at La Source. Belgium July 2023.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team will “move on” from Oscar Piastri’s collision with former driver Carlos Sainz, as “Carlos got his damage as well” and both drivers retired.

Piastri had looked to move up the inside of the now-Ferrari driver at La Source at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, but Sainz moved across track as he locked up heading into the first corner.

This had the knock-on effect of pushing Piastri into the wall, causing damage that would end Piastri’s race on the first lap, and Sainz was brought in to retire midway through after dropping to the bottom of the field.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

McLaren team boss responds to Piastri/Sainz collision

这是一个令人失望的结局,一个杰出的周末or the McLaren rookie, who led his first ever laps of Formula 1 racing in Saturday’s sprint and started in the top five on Sunday.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the race, Stella confirmed the extent of the damage to Piastri’s car.

“It looks like the steering system is broken,” said the McLaren team principal.

“I actually haven’t checked myself if it’s outboard or inboard, but it’s broken, and obviously there was no way to continue.

“我暂时a look with Oscar at the incident, and it looks like, to be honest, Carlos kind of either didn’t know that Oscar was there or, because he needed to avoid the car ahead, just drove on to Oscar and there was a wall, limiting the space available. So, a big shame.”

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Piastri himself took a dim view of the incident, but also chalked it up as being “quite firmly in the category of a lap one, turn one incident” – with the FIA stewards having not investigated the contact.

When asked about his own feelings on whether or not it should have been investigated, Stella wanted to “move on” – with Sainz also being forced to retire as a result.

“Well, I haven’t actually discussed this point internally,” he responded when asked his feelings about why the stewards did not take a look at the incident.

“Let me just say that we trust the stewards in this respect. They look at things in this situation with a lot of care, so I think there is no point in arguing one millimetre more or less.

“We trust their operations, we trust their judgement. It doesn’t change the outcome.

“Carlos got his damage as well, he needed to retire. So it’s a bit of learning for everyone and we move on.”