Damon Hill gives Oscar Piastri advice after ‘unacceptable’ Carlos Sainz controversy

Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, has claimed F1 drivers must “assume everyone is going to knock you off” after Oscar Piastri aired his frustration with Carlos Sainz at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Piastri was in contention for victory in Hungary last weekend when he came up to lap Sainz, who was in the midst of a battle with Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin.

Damon Hill responds to Oscar Piastri vs Carlos Sainz flashpoint

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As reported by PlanetF1.com, Sainz passed seven trackside blue flag warnings before he collided with Piastri at Turn 2.

Piastri was heard calling Sainz an “idiot” over team radio before doubling down on his criticism after the race.

He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I don’t really care if he didn’t see me. The fact that he didn’t, or no one told him, or there was a lack of complete awareness, is unacceptable.

“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 stick 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.”

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Responding to the controversy, Hill has claimed that drivers in Piastri’s position must be wary of the threat posed by lapped cars like Sainz.

Taking to Instagram’s story function, which allows images and video clips to be posted for a maximum of 24 hours, Hill wrote: “I have a point of view on this. Want to hear it?”

In a separate post, he then added: “You gotta assume everyone is going to knock you off!”

Sainz, a director of F1 drivers’ union the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association since the start of 2025, was hit with a five-second penalty for his clash with Piastri.

The Spaniard was heard telling Williams over team radio after the incident that he had “no idea” that Piastri was behind him.

However, the FIA stewards’ report confirmed that Sainz “had been informed that Car 81 (Piastri) was approaching” moments before the collision.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was affected by an issue with blue flags, which left drivers uncertain when to slow for cars behind.

The issue resulted in Oliver Bearman, the Haas driver, also incurring a five-second time penalty for impeding the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar.

Bearman went on to admit that he felt “bad” about holding up Hadjar before explaining the problem with blue flags, revealing that he was receiving blue flags every lap from lap six, making it difficult to tell which ones were real.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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