Ralf Schumacher demands extra Carlos Sainz punishment after Oscar Piastri collision
Oscar Piastri was not impressed with Carlos Sainz in Hungary
Ralf Schumacher has called for an additional grid penalty for Carlos Sainz after the Williams driver passed seven blue-flag warnings, and then “drove into” Oscar Piastri’s car.
Sainz was handed a five-second penalty for the incident that Piastri says cost him the lead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ralf Schumacher says Carlos Sainz deserves extra punishment
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.
Piastri led the opening stint of the Hungarian Grand Prix having taken the lead off his teammate Lando Norris at Turn 3 on the opening lap.
Neck-and-neck for the lead when Piastri made his second stop seven laps ahead of Norris, the Australian came up behind Sainz and Fernando Alonso to lap the squabbling backmarkers.
As he approached Turn 1, Sainz was told by the Williams pit wall: “Blue flag of Piastri.”
Sainz then passed two further blue panels, positioned on the exit of Turn 1 and the entry of Turn 2, bringing the total that he had passed to seven.
But as Piastri went to lap him, the two made contact.
Piastri was heard on the radio: “Get out of the **** way, you idiot! Oh my god…”
The McLaren driver was fortunate not to spin, but he did lose the lead to Norris before retiring a short time later with a gearbox problem.
Piastri fumed at Sainz after the race, telling Viaplay: “That’s got to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen on a race track. I don’t really care what excuse he gave.”
Former F1 driver Schumacher agrees.
Although Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for the incident, the six-time Grand Prix winner believes he deserves an additional punishment for the next race in Zandvoort.
“It’s something that makes you furious,” he told Sky Deutschland.
“None of them competed for the points. Then the leader of the race comes, and Sainz drove into his car.
“An absolute no-go from my point of view.
“A normal punishment is not enough.
“For me, Carlos Sainz should be punished for the next race. In qualifying at Zandvoort, he has to get one.
“Because otherwise this will set a precedent, it must not happen at all.”
Carlos Sainz v Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri blasts Carlos Sainz after ‘unacceptable’ Hungarian GP collision
Sainz offers ‘pretty good excuse’ for Oscar Piastri Hungary collision
Piastri wasn’t the only driver hampered by backmarkers not adhering to blue flags.
Oliver Bearman was penalised for ignoring blue flags when Isack Hadjar came up behind him, while Gabriel Bortoleto gave Max Verstappen precious breathing room in the closing laps when he held up Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff blasted “teletubbies engineers that sit on the pit walls of these teams” and didn’t inform their drivers.
Schumacher went as far as to call it “unsportsmanlike”.
“Every driver knows what it’s all about,” insisted the 51-year-old.
“You have your engineer, you ask questions and also look in the mirror. If he tells me he can’t look in the mirror when he’s driving, then he’s overwhelmed and has to stop.
“But that’s really unsportsmanlike!”
Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.
You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!
Read Next: Hungarian GP conclusions: Oscar Piastri the nearly man as Norris moves to next level
