Piastri ‘lucky’ in Eau Rouge after breaking steering in Sainz clash

Oscar Piastri has described himself as “lucky” after suffering steering damage when he was crowded into the wall at La Source at the start of the Belgian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver made contact with Carlos Sainz and then the barrier on the apex of the tight right-hander, damaging his car and forcing him out of the race.

He stopped halfway around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit as he became the race’s first retirement.

It was a clash officials deemed was a racing incident, an opinion Piastri shared.

“I think it’s quite firmly in the category of a Lap 1, Turn 1 incident,” he reasoned.

“I got a good start and got my nose alongside, and then when we got to the braking zone, Carlos moves a bit to the right and locked up.

“I also had to try and avoid that a bit, and then from there to the apex my options were quite limited.”

While suggesting his options were limited when it came to avoiding contact, Piastri conceded there were things he and Sainz could have done differently.

“From Carlos’ point of view, the move to the right surprised me a bit,” he explained.

“Then, for myself, I think from there I was quite limited.

“Maybe I could have braked a bit later and been further alongside but it’s very easy to say that with hindsight.

“Once I was in that position, it was quite hard to either go forward or go backwards and I was kind of stuck.

“I tried to do the best that I could from that position, but there wasn’t much I could do.”

The McLaren driver was able to round the corner in position before the extent of the damage revealed itself.

His car quickly began to trail sparks as he eased towards the left-hand side of the track, team-mate Lando Norris almost forced onto the grass to avoid the ailing Australian.

“I think I had a left from puncture; I think the right front was broken as well,” he explained when asked about the damage by Speedcafe.

“Went up Eau Rouge with about 180 degrees of lock and still going straight, so something was clearly broken.”

“I think I was quite lucky that everyone kind of got around me before Eau Rouge,” he added.

“Just the way the steering was, I kind of managed to get to the left side of the track before the bottom of Eau Rouge.

“From that point, it was okay, I just tried to stay as far left as possible, but yeah, it’s not very fun going around a slightly curved straight when you can’t steer.”