Calls grow for harsher Sainz penalty after Hungarian GP incident

The stewards' report made it clear that a 10-second penalty is the usual sanction for causing a collision. In this case, though, they settled on five seconds after taking mitigating circumstances into account. Their assessment found that Sainz did not have Piastri in sight when he made the move, with both the track layout and the surrounding traffic limiting his view. Despite a radio warning about the Australian's presence, the stewards ruled that those circumstances were enough to lessen Sainz's responsibility and reduce the penalty.

Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, Steiner argued that the FIA should have handed Sainz the standard 10-second penalty, insisting the blue flag system failure should not have been treated as a mitigating circumstance because the blue flags were still being shown.

Williams team principal James Vowles has partly blamed Alonso for his role in the controversial Hungarian Grand Prix clash between Piastri and Sainz. While admitting Williams should have handled the situation better despite the blue flag system failure, Vowles argued Alonso should have moved aside for Piastri earlier.

He explained that the FIA's blue flag system malfunctioned during the race, forcing marshals to rely on manual blue flags and flashing lights that did not identify which driver they were intended for. According to Vowles, Alonso stayed ahead of Piastri despite repeated blue light warnings, before twice diving inside Sainz, repeatedly changing which car was officially behind.

As a result, Sainz regained track position just as Piastri attempted a move on the inside, leading to the collision. Vowles maintained Williams should have managed the situation better, but said Alonso's decisions played a key role in creating the sequence of events.