Jul.1 (GMM) Carlos Sainz has excused Sebastian Vettel after an incident in qualifying.
Renault’s Sainz went off the track and broke a wing when he encountered a slow-moving Vettel on the racing line in Austria.
“It made me break a wing, which obviously costs our team money, but he didn’t do it on purpose,” said the Spaniard.
“He didn’t see me and I think he was not warned by radio.”
Vettel was penalised three places on the Austrian grand prix grid for the incident.
“I can only apologise,” the Ferrari driver told RTL. “I did not see him in the mirror and the team didn’t tell me either.”
Meanwhile, Sainz said he didn’t notice a big difference after Renault introduced a new engine ‘qualifying mode’ for Austria.
“I did not notice the new engine map too much,” he said.