Carlos Sainz on the in-team crash: “That was the last thing I wanted!”

In a chaotic final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort (contract expiring), there were several interruptions to the flow of the race: right at the start, Max Verstappen crashed, triggering a red flag. At the restart, Oliver Bearman failed to make it onto the starting grid and came to a halt. There was an additional formation lap until the Haas had been recovered. On lap 49, there were double yellow flags and a Virtual Safety Car because Bearman’s team-mate Esteban Ocon had come to a standstill. And shortly before the end of the race – when the leading cars were already on lap 70 of 72 – there was one final brief slowdown: debris was on the track following a collision between the two Williams cars. There was another brief VSC phase to allow for the recovery of the cars and to protect the marshals.

Williams crash caused late VSC

The two Williams cars (driven by Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz) had made contact in the first corner, damaging each other’s front wings. Carbon fibre debris quickly scattered across the narrow Zandvoort circuit. Sainz was handed a 10-second penalty for the collision.

Sainz explains the crash

The Spaniard was contrite after the race: “A fair penalty. I was a bit surprised. I had heavily worn hard tyres and was having great difficulty with the car and the race pace. There’s a massive bump in Turn 1, which gets bigger the further in you go. I tried to brake on the inside and then hit it full on with the chassis. My front tyres were off the ground, and as soon as I touched the brakes, the wheels locked up and I took Alex out with me, which is the worst possible outcome for this race. It’s not as if we were fighting for anything major, but to be honest, it took me completely by surprise… I apologise to him, because that was the last thing I wanted.”

The two Williams cars finished 16th (Sainz) and 17th (Albon). They were the last two cars to cross the finish line. Not just at Zandvoort, but overall, Williams is currently going through a rough patch.

Williams couldn’t compete with anyone

Sainz: “We ended up pretty much exactly where we expected to be, namely right at the back. At the moment, we’re only faster than Cadillac. You could see the Astons at race pace – they’re in a different league at the moment. So we couldn’t compete with them. In fact, we couldn’t compete with anyone. Towards the end of the race, Alex and I were just having a bit of fun, and unfortunately I made that mistake when I was caught out by the bump at Turn 1, causing the front axle to lock up. But to be honest, it’s not as if we were fighting for much…”

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