Carlos Sainz demanded penalty on rival as unseen footage emerges after FIA punishment
The Spaniard was livid after being pushed off the track.
Williams driver Carlos Sainz called for Pierre Gasly to be penalised following their collision during Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The pair were fighting for position in the closing laps when the Alpine man misjudged his braking on Turn 2 and made contact with Sainz.
The Spaniard was duly knocked onto the run-off area before he managed to regather his car and get back on the track. Sainz was 13th at the time, but dropped a place before taking the chequered flag after being overtaken by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. Gasly meanwhile, crossed in 17th but was dropped two places after stewards handed him a 10-second penalty for the incident.
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However, not before Sainz had his say. New radio footage has emerged of him telling his Williams team: “That’s a penalty.” Race engineer Gatean Jego replied that the team had noted the incident, and after Sainz protested that he was forced off, confirmed Williams would be taking action.
“Copy, we saw,” he said. “We saw and we’re reporting. We saw, we’re reporting.” Sainz wasn’t done there, and the finish line was quick to check whether Gasly had been sanctioned.
Jego told him: “And that’s P14. Gasly misjudged that quite a bit. It would have been a recovery to P13.” Team boss James Vowles also praised his “strong drive” before Sainz replied.
“Thank you, James,” he said. “Ultimately, we just lack pace at these circuits. Did they do something for Gasly?” To his evident relief, Jego was able to confirm: “He got a 10-second penalty.”
The misdemeanour also cost Gasly two points on his FIA licence. He didn’t come out of the collision unscathed either, telling his team: “I think something is broken. The car is undrivable.”
Sainz, 30, has now failed to score a point in four consecutive Grand Prix races. The last time he finished in the top-10 was in Canada back on June 15.
