Daily News 19

Tag: Zandvoort collision

  • James Vowles Addresses Alex Albon–Carlos Sainz Collision at Dutch GP

    James Vowles Addresses Alex Albon–Carlos Sainz Collision at Dutch GP

    Williams team principal James Vowles says the team must accept part of the blame for the late-race collision between Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz at the Dutch Grand Prix.

    During a chaotic race at Zandvoort, won by McLaren’s Lando Norris, the two Williams drivers collided while fighting outside the points-paying positions.

    Williams accepts responsibility for Albon and Sainz crash

    Speaking in the team’s post-race video debrief, The Vowles Verdict, the Williams boss addressed the incident.

    “As you saw, Alex and Carlos came together on track,” Vowles explained. “There’s a lot of questions around whose fault it is, whose isn’t it? I’ll start with this. I think with our two drivers, both have a responsibility to not hit each other.

    “It’s hard to do it as a majority to one or the other, but both have a culpability in that. This particular circumstance, actually, I think we as a team have a culpability.”

    According to Vowles, the team’s decision to leave Sainz on worn tyres during the virtual safety car period contributed to the situation.

    “We tried leaving Carlos out at that VSC. The reason why was because had we stopped, he would have been behind Alex and Franco anyway. So you’re back net to where you would have been before, without the pace to be able to overtake them.

    “But that said, this also put our cars into a situation where they were fighting tooth and nail for no points on track. That’s not a situation we should be putting them in either.”

    Albon retired from the race after the collision, while Sainz continued to finish 16th.

    Sainz received a 10-second penalty for the incident, which he described as “fair” after the race.

    “Fair penalty. I had a bit of a surprise when I went to defend,” the Spaniard explained. “I had really worn hard tyres, struggling a lot with the car, with the pace of the race. “And when I went to brake on the inside, there was a massive bump on the inside of Turn 1. When you are further in the inside, the bigger it gets. I just hit with the plank. “I had the front tyres in the air. And as soon as I touched the brake, I locked up and I took Alex with me, which is the worst possible outcome for that race, because it’s not like we were fighting for anything big. But honestly, it caught me so much by surprise. Apologies to him, because it’s the last thing I wanted.”

  • Alex Albon Dismisses Carlos Sainz Tension at Dutch GP After “Clear-the-Air” Breakfast

    Alex Albon Dismisses Carlos Sainz Tension at Dutch GP After “Clear-the-Air” Breakfast

    Alex Albon has dismissed suggestions of lingering tension with Williams team-mate Carlos Sainz after their collision at the Dutch Grand Prix, revealing that the pair discussed the incident over breakfast on Monday.

    Sainz accepted full responsibility for the intra-team clash at Zandvoort and received a 10-second penalty. The Spaniard was defending on old hard tyres into Turn 1 when he hit a bump on the inside line, locked up and slid into Albon’s car.

    The collision damaged Albon’s floor and forced him to retire, while Sainz finished 16th. However, Albon said there was no bad blood between the Williams drivers during an appearance on The Fast And The Curious podcast:

    “We grabbed breakfast on Monday. Carlos offered to pay. I allowed him to pay.

    “All chill. I think people like to make it out [to be] more than it really is, but at the same time, it was no Max and Daniel [Verstappen and Ricciardo at Baku in 2018]. For me, that was important. You can tell in the media pen as soon as you go after the race, you feel like the interviewer is like licking their lips, they’re getting so excited.

    “So you just have to kind of like shoulder it and be like, ‘No, we’re not going to go down that road.’”

    Albon joked that the collision had left Sainz owing him a free hit in the name of team equality. Asked whether he was allowed to “bump off” Sainz once as payback, Albon replied:

    “I think that’s a good one. I’m not sure the team would agree with this,”

    He then added:

    “I shouldn’t say this because it’s going to write its own script.”

    Albon also offered an insight into the pair’s Monday debrief in Monaco, describing the breakfast they shared:

    “I kid you not, Lily had scrambled eggs with caviar. I had just classic avocado toast and then Carlos and I shared some protein pancakes.

    “Carlos is way too confident about his pancake game. He has a confidence that I’ve never seen anyone have around pancakes. The way he talks about how he makes pancakes, you’d think he’s Gordon Ramsay’s coach.”