Carlos Sainz Jnr said Lewis Hamilton broke the rules when the pair collided on the final lap of the Miami Grand Prix.
However the stewards ruled neither driver was at fault over their clash at turn 17, which occured as Hamilton resisted Sainz’s attempt to take eighth place from him at the finish.
Sainz made a late move to try to pass Hamilton on the inside of the corner. The pair made contact after Hamilton turned in and the Ferrari driver stayed ahead, reaching the finishing line just three tenths of a second ahead of his rival.
But the Williams driver accused his rival of moving too late to defend his position. “It was the last lap, I obviously went for it as I saw a gap,” he told the official F1 channel.
“I think he reacted a bit to my move. It caught him a bit by surprise and he started moving to the left during braking, which if you apply the rulebook to the letter, you cannot do that because that’s moving under braking.
“But in the last lap, last corner, obviously, everyone’s going to be a bit on the limit.”
The stewards agreed Hamilton moved reactively to Sainz’s attack but also decided the Williams driver hadn’t got far enough alongside the Mercedes driver at the corner. They therefore ruled both drivers shared responsibility for the collision and took no action.
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“Car 55 [Sainz] attempted an overtake on the inside of car 44 [Hamilton] into turn 17 and both cars made contact at the apex,” they noted.
“The stewards determine that both drivers contributed to the incident as car 55 did not clearly get in a position to have the right to the racing line according to the Driving Standards Guidelines and at the same time car 44 turned into the corner earlier than usual and therefore impacted the driver of car 55 in his overtaking attempt. No driver is deemed predominantly to blame for the collision and therefore no further action is taken.”
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