​Stella excuses Sainz after Piastri rage

BUDAPEST, July 27 : McLaren boss Andrea Stella has excused Carlos Sainz after Oscar Piastri raged at the team's former driver for a costly collision during Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Spaniard Sainz, now at Williams, clashed with Piastri while the Australian was trying to lap him and retain the lead after his second pitstop.

The lost seconds allowed Piastri's teammate and world champion Lando Norris to take the lead when he pitted several laps later after building up a crucial advantage, going on to take the team's first win of the Formula One season.

Piastri ultimately retired with a broken gearbox while in second place with McLaren heading for a one-two.

"My understanding is that the blue (warning) panels were not working," Stella told reporters. "So perhaps today was more difficult than normal for the backmarkers to appreciate what was happening in their mirrors.

"Carlos is a very fair, very correct driver. So I'm sure that was absolutely unintentional but a bit of a shame for Oscar. 

"It's absolutely understandable that when you lead the race for almost half (the distance) and then you see yourself losing the lead because of an incident with a back marker then you may have a moment and make a comment in anger."

SCATHING RADIO MESSAGES

Piastri, who had overtaken Norris on the opening lap, was scathing about Sainz in his radio messages and afterwards.

"He was fighting (Aston Martin's) Fernando (Alonso) for last place like it was the world championship and cost me the lead of the race," the Australian told reporters.

"He's quite critical of others, and others have given him some stick before for being frustrating on track, and when you go and do something like that, I think maybe you should look in the mirror a bit.

"I don't