Sainz FRUSTRATED as he blames Piastri for ending his race in Spa

Carlos Sainz has blamed Oscar Piastri for his early exit from the Belgian Grand Prix, after the pair retired following a lap-one tussle.

The Spanish Ferrari driver had a very short race at Spa, as he was clipped by the McLaren driver on the first turn and couldn’t recover from the resultant damage.

Sainz will be hoping for an improved second half of the season after mixed results so far – his best result in 2023 has been P4.

He explained the incident to GPFans and the media after the race, saying: “Yeah, I think I was on the attack with Lewis, and I think I pretty much had the move done into turn one, made the apex cleanly and everything, but unfortunately, I think Oscar was trying to do a bit of an optimistic move on me.

“It’s a bit of a shame because when you review the past races here in Spa, what has been the typical turn one incident is exactly that not everyone who tries the inside line into turn 1 and tries to really make it around on there normally generates an incident or a crash.

“I made perfectly the apex and passed Lewis; if you look at my own board, yes, I do look up, but I don't go deep into the corner.”

Asked if he knew that the car was very close on his inside line, he said: ”Yeah. But at some point, someone needs to back out, and he's the guy who is alongside my rear ride that I think needs to back off the move, not me, and let him pass me into turn one, especially when I'm pretty much having my move done in with Lewis.”

Sainz said he knew the car was ‘undriveable’ after the incident, saying: “It was undriveable pretty much, but we kept it going and never gave up in case there was a red flag.

“And then, when the rain passed and there was no red flag, we retired.”

READ MORE: Remembering Spa '98 and Schumacher's raging attempt to ASSAULT rival

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