Williams team principal James Vowles has acknowledged his team shares blame for the collision between Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz during the Dutch Grand Prix. The incident occurred while both drivers battled outside of the points-paying positions at Zandvoort.
Vowles stated both drivers bear some responsibility for the contact, but the team’s strategy contributed to the situation. He explained the decision to leave Carlos Sainz out on worn tires during a virtual safety car period was made to avoid placing him behind Alex Albon and Franco anyway, and without the pace to overtake. However, this also resulted in both Williams drivers fighting for positions that ultimately yielded no points.
“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,” Vowles said.
Albon retired from the race following the collision, while Sainz finished 16th. Sainz received a 10-second penalty for the incident, which he deemed “fair.” He explained a bump on the inside of Turn 1 caused his front tires to lock up when braking, leading to the contact with Albon.
“Fair penalty. I had a bit of a surprise when I went to defend,” Sainz said. “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…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.”
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