Carlos Sainz accused of 'mouthing off' by F1 rival as Williams launch protest

Carlos Sainz has been accused of 'mouthing off' by rival Liam Lawson. The New Zealander was stunned by the Spaniard's harsh words about him following their crash at last weekend's Dutch Grand Prix and has clearly remained annoyed by what the Williams driver said afterwards. Their row stemmed from one of numerous on-track incidents during the thrilling Zandvoort race.

The clash occurred after a safety car restart when Sainz attempted to pass Lawson around the outside at Turn One. But they made contact and both suffered punctures that forced pit stops. It destroyed both drivers' hopes of claiming points, though Sainz received the penalty when stewards ruled him responsible for the collision.

Sainz was livid about the decision, venting his anger over team radio when informed of his punishment before later targeting both the stewards and Lawson. He demanded an explanation from officials for their ruling whilst also criticising the Kiwi driver.

Speaking about Lawson, Sainz said: "It's a corner that allows to go two cars to race each other without really having to have any unnecessary contact. But with Liam, it always seems to be very difficult to make that happen.

"He always seems to prefer to have a bit of contact and risk a DNF or a puncture like we did, than to actually accept having two cars side-by-side."

Lawson, the Racing Bulls driver, has questioned why Sainz chose to air his grievances in the media rather than addressing him directly.

"I wish he'd just come and talk to me about it rather than telling everybody else," Lawson stated.

On Thursday, ahead of the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, Lawson expressed his continued surprise at Sainz's criticism, especially as he was unaware of any existing issues between them.

Speaking at Monza, he said: "On a restart we have cold tyres, hard tyres. We're all on new tyres after the safety car. It's a naturally difficult corner. We're all coming in there on lap one.

"He's the car going for the overtake around the outside and he didn't get his axle where he needed to get it. And somehow I'm deemed as being aggressive? I don't really understand it.

"It ruined my race. We were in a position to potentially have two cars in the top five, but I didn't go on the radio and mouth off to everybody about it or to the media.

"So, yeah, it's his approach after that race but I don't know why he was so upset, honestly. If I was overtaking him, I would understand that he's more frustrated, but he was the car overtaking, and he got a penalty for it."

Meanwhile, Sainz remains incensed with the stewards' decision to penalise him and is gathering evidence for an official protest.

"We are trying to see if we can come up with enough evidence and enough stuff to realise if we can change the outcome of the penalty," he declared.

"Because I still firmly believe it was a very poor penalty that I received and a bad judgment, which can happen as long as you have the capacity to revisit it.

"And if there's been a misunderstanding or a lack of evidence or a lack of analysis, then there is still time to reanalyse it, to reopen it, and change it."

For the latest breaking stories and headlines, sign up to our Daily Express F1 newsletter, or join our WhatsApp community here.