F1 star Carlos Sainz got community noted on Twitter after miserable Hungarian Grand Prix

Sainz, Piastri, socials — Photo: © IMAGO

Hungarian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz got community noted on Twitter after miserable Hungarian Grand Prix

Sainz is not in Piastri's good books after this incident

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Monday 27 July 2026 16:45

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Williams F1 star Carlos Sainz managed to get on the wrong side of Oscar Piastri and get Community Noted on Twitter all within the space of a few hours on Sunday.

After the chequered flag had been waved at this year's Hungarian Grand Prix, there was chatter among the F1 paddock that the FIA had suffered from a failure with their marshalling system.

The topic was even raised by Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli in the cooldown after the 70-lap grand prix, which was won by Norris and saw Antonelli finish third.

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The 19-year-old championship leader could be heard saying: "I was getting the blue flags and I went on the radio and was like, 'what am I getting blue flags for?' To which Norris replied: "I think they just started giving them to everyone. Even I had a blue flag at one point."

The Sky Sports duo of David Croft and Martin Brundle then seemed to confirm the issue, telling viewers: "We understand that there was a failure, the FIA marshalling system, the light panels, which may have contributed to that."

Brundle then suggested: "I wonder if that’s why a lot of drivers just weren’t getting out the way at all," an excuse which was later adopted by Sainz after he failed to move out of the way for Piastri on lap 38.

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Sainz doubles down after Piastri clash, Community Note tells a different story

When Sunday's 70-lap race was just over halfway done, Piastri felt the full force of the circuit's short, twisty layout, encountering backmarkers in the form of Sainz and his fellow countryman Fernando Alonso.

As the two drivers who were running at the back of the pack fought for track position, they appeared to ignore the blue flashing lights that were displayed around the track via the FIA's marshalling system, indicating that they were being shown a blue flag to get out of the way of the faster McLaren which was being severely impeded whilst running up in P4.

Whilst attempting to pass Sainz, Piastri made contact with the Williams in an incident which should never have occurred given they were not fighting for track position and saw the Spaniard handed a five-second penalty as a result.

Taking to team radio, Piastri was understandably fuming, shouting: "Get out of the f****** way you idiot," before telling media after failing to finish the race: "Getting taken out by a backmarker is never really one of the things you think can go wrong. But I was proven wrong."

Following the incident, Sainz took a lot of heat from pundits, fellow drivers and fans alike, addressing his race on social media platform 'X' (previously known as Twitter) by writing: "I had a strong race, but there was an issue with blue flags' system, Oscar appeared in my blind spot when battling Fernando and we touched. Then I lost ground with the penalty and double stacking under VSC. Lots of homework, we'll come back stronger!"

Sainz's post claiming there was an issue with the FIA blue flags' system has been Community Noted

However, underneath Sainz's original post, a community note from the platform designed to correct misleading information now reads: "The FIA stewards determined that the team informed Sainz of the blue flags for car 81 and held him fully responsible for the collision, applying a 5-second penalty despite a mitigating factor of limited visibility."

The note also linked to the official stewards' decision document on 'X' to assist readers with finding the facts amid the fallout of Sunday's race.

When facing the media after the race which he was forced to retire from on lap 56, it was put to Piastri that Sainz had also told reporters he had no blue flags showing on his steering wheel during the incident.

"For me that's no excuse at all," said Piastri.

"That's got to be one of the dumbest things I've ever seen on a race track."

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

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F1 FIA Carlos Sainz Williams Hungarian Grand Prix Hungaroring