Kvyat, Sainz disagree over Lap 1 clash

Daniil Kvyat feels his early penalty from the FIA Formula 1 stewards for clashing with both McLaren drivers on Lap 1 was unjustified, while Carlos Sainz has laid the blame solely on the Toro Rosso driver.

Kvyat, Sainz and Lando Norris were caught up in an first-lap collision which saw both the Russian and British drivers thrown into the air as they banged tyres, with all three sustaining significant damage, which ultimately retired both Kvyat and Norris from the race later on.

The Toro Rosso driver was slapped with a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident which he disputes because he feels it was a typical opening lap clash in which he couldn’t avoid hitting both McLarens.

“Regarding the Lap 1 incident, I’ve seen it many times now and I totally disagree with the penalty and I will speak with the stewards behind closed doors to find out their opinion on that,” Kvyat said.

“There was absolutely no understeer, nothing like that, it was a corner exit and the car was already very straight. The regulations say you have to leave one car width next to the car next to me. It was a three-cars-in-one corner, and one car coming back on track very sharply, so the other car was sandwiched behind us.

“I went in the air when a car hit me from behind and then I went into Norris. I will speak behind closed doors with the stewards to find a solution and understand it.”

Sainz disagrees with his former teammate and feels Kvyat was attempting to make up for a poor start and says the Russian “knew that we were there”.

“It is Lap 1, obviously I understand his frustrations but anything can happen,” Sainz said. “But it is Lap 1 and there are 55 laps to go so if you don’t get the best of starts… look at your teammate [Albon] who has finished in the points starting from the pit lane.

“It is a long race and you don’t have to open the steering wheel on the exit of a corner when you know you have two McLarens side-by-side. I think he knew, he knew that we were there.

“It is a shame because it is a long race here in Shanghai and you can overtake here so if you don’t get the best of starts you have to be patient and get back in the points. That is exactly what Lando and I were doing but we were in a melee. It is a shame.”

Norris, who was cutting back on track and clipped from behind by Kvyat which handed the Russian his penalty, felt it was a racing incident which didn’t require punishment on initial review.

“I just saw it after I stopped the car,” Norris said. “To be honest, he squeezed Carlos a bit, and then the contact between them went into me. It wasn’t like someone hit me, it looked like a bit of a racing incident but I need to look at it in more detail.

“The first few corners were very good, I managed to go around the outside, I almost passed Kimi [Raikkonen] but had to back out of it a bit as it got a little bit close for my liking.

“Just a shame. It would have been nice to have some fun.”