Oscar Piastri was running in the net lead of the 2026 F1 Hungarian GP when he had a run-in with Carlos Sainz’s Williams on lap 38, losing him valuable race time and the race lead to McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who ultimately went on to win the race comfortably.
Piastri was “pissed off” to be “crashed into” by a lapped Sainz in 2026 F1 Hungarian GP
Piastri was very agitated over the radio after coming out of his second pit stop straight into traffic – but the McLaren driver admitted he was more irked by the fact he had that run-in with Carlos Sainz on lap 38, which ultimately cost him the race lead at the time:
“No, it was more the fact that I got crashed into by a lapped car,” he said of his radio anger. “I think the timing of my stops was fine. We wanted to cover up [Lewis] Hamilton, which was perfectly normal.
“Without getting crashed into, I would have been ahead of Lando [Norris] still. So from that side of things, I was fine.”
Piastri even went as far as admitting he “knew” he wouldn’t have the pace to go after Norris, which pretty much cemented what looked like a second place finish at the time.
“In the moment, I was incredibly annoyed – in fact, annoyed is not the word I would use, but there was a multitude [of words] that I would use with Carlos [Sainz], and then obviously when Lando came out ahead, I knew I had no pace to go and attack him.
“So I knew my chances of winning the race were done from there, in the moment, I was pissed off that I’d lost the lead of the race, but that wasn’t the fault of the team.“
“Unacceptable”: Piastri’s dim view of Sainz clash despite “issue” with blue flag systems
Although it came to light that there were issues with the automatic blue flag systems that light up on the drivers’ steering wheels and LED panels alongside the track, Piastri’s view is that the physical flags were still visible on marshal posts, and the lack of communication from Williams’ side was “unacceptable“:
“Yeah, I knew there were blue flags [issues], but there were blue flags on all the marshall signals,” he insisted. “I was right behind him for a sector. I couldn’t believe what happened – getting crashed into by a lapped car is never one of the things you expect that can go wrong in your race, and today it was.
“I don’t really care if he didn’t see me. The fact that he didn’t and no one told him, or there was a lack of complete awareness, is unacceptable.”
Sainz: Better communication “would have helped” but adamant it was a “racing incident”
Carlos Sainz had a very different view of the incident, as he believes that it was a “racing incident“, citing that the issue with the blue lights on his panel made it “difficult” to spot the physical blue flags in the midst of his battle with Fernando Alonso, and explained it was “impossible” to see the Papaya-colored McLaren in his mirrors:
“We didn’t have blue lights on the steering, which normally when we are in fights like that one where we are fighting for position, it helps us to understand whether we are getting lapped or not.
“So at this stage, I had no idea I was about to get lapped and on top of that I was in a big fight with Fernando [Alonso], trying to undercut him into the corner, and I wouldn’t have expected Oscar [Piastri] to be there, and even if he was there, or I would have expected he was on my [blind] spot on that angle, so it was impossible honestly from my side to avoid it.“
The Spaniard even revealed that he experienced issues with the blue flag procedures since very early on in the grand prix, saying it was being shown “for no reason” in the first few laps:
“So yeah, probably a bit better communication would have helped but at the same time a racing thing that sometimes happens.
“Apart from the problem of the steering and the blue flags, there seemed to be problems with blue flags around the track, very early in the race. Blue flags were shown for no reason.“
Sainz: Piastri “didn’t retire” because of clash on lap 38 of 2026 F1 Hungarian GP
Despite being penalised with a five-second time penalty for the incident, Sainz kept a very firm view that his contact with Piastri didn’t “disturb”the Australian’s race too much, and believes the McLaren driver will understand the circumstances that led up to that moment:
“It’s racing, it’s a racing incident. He probably understands what happened just by knowing what happened. He didn’t retire due to me or my faul. It was just a contact and I’m glad it didn’t disturb his race too much.”
Piastri slams Sainz “fighting for last place like it was the world championship” in 2026 F1 Hungarian GP
Piastri was adamant that even in spite of the circumstances, Sainz was fighting Alonso for 18th place “like it was for the world championship“, and said Sainz needs to “look in the mirror, after being very critical of other drivers as recently as this weekend’s practice sessions, when he lashed out at Arvid Lindblad in FP2:
“[The blue flags are] a pretty clear system that’s existed in racing for a long time.
“He was fighting Fernando for last place like it was the world championship. It cost me the lead of the race.
“He’s quite critical of others, and others have given him some stink before for being frustrating on track.
“When you go and do something like that, I think maybe you should look in the mirror a bit.”
