Carlos Sainz Jnr said Lewis Hamilton broke the rules when the pair collided on the final lap of the Miami Grand Prix.
However the stewards ruled neither driver was at fault over their clash at turn 17, which occured as Hamilton resisted Sainz’s attempt to take eighth place from him at the finish.Sainz made a late move to try to pass Hamilton on the inside of the corner. The pair made contact after Hamilton turned in and the Ferrari driver stayed ahead, reaching the finishing line just three tenths of a second ahead of his rival.
But the Williams driver accused his rival of moving too late to defend his position. “It was the last lap, I obviously went for it as I saw a gap,” he told the official F1 channel.
“I think he reacted a bit to my move. It caught him a bit by surprise and he started moving to the left during braking, which if you apply the rulebook to the letter, you cannot do that because that’s moving under braking.
“But in the last lap, last corner, obviously, everyone’s going to be a bit on the limit.”
The stewards agreed Hamilton moved reactively to Sainz’s attack but also decided the Williams driver hadn’t got far enough alongside the Ferrari driver at the corner. They therefore ruled both drivers shared responsibility for the collision and took no action.
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“Car 55 [Sainz] attempted an overtake on the inside of car 44 [Hamilton] into turn 17 and both cars made contact at the apex,” they noted.
“The stewards determine that both drivers contributed to the incident as car 55 did not clearly get in a position to have the right to the racing line according to the Driving Standards Guidelines and at the same time car 44 turned into the corner earlier than usual and therefore impacted the driver of car 55 in his overtaking attempt. No driver is deemed predominantly to blame for the collision and therefore no further action is taken.”
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roadrunner (@roadrunner)
5th May 2025, 1:19
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
5th May 2025, 1:20
“alongside the Mercedes driver “
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
5th May 2025, 2:01
Ahah, good spot, I found that fun too, but makes sense, considering how long hamilton’s been at merc.
Also, generally speaking, having a williams hit you from the back is not good if you’re ferrari, as in shouldn’t be fighting williams on merit!
Sparky (@sfrank15)
5th May 2025, 2:39
The other Williams car of Albon beat both Ferraris so their car isn’t that slow.
Jere (@jerejj)
5th May 2025, 7:19
How could Hamilton have been in the wrong? Sainz was too far behind to have literally any chance of getting past cleanly anyway, not to mention Hamilton had to start turning eventually anyway, so simply an excessively risky move that could’ve cost Williams a double-point finish & how exactly did Hamilton turn in earlier than usual? I don’t really buy into the moving under braking claim because, from the replay footage, he didn’t seem to start turning any earlier than on average.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
5th May 2025, 20:51
Sainz is desparate to beat the guy his dad through under the bus last year, when he ‘informed’ Toto about his move to Ferrari. (hearsay)
I suspect that Sainz feels bad about Hamilton, and in a way its kind of nice to see Hamilton rise above it and finish in front of the hate (I suspect).
Sainz is a better driver, but I think his ego is holding him back.
Deep Sky
6th May 2025, 1:08
I don’t see any ego in Sainz that limits his performance. He might not be the fastest and may make an error here and there but he’s decently quick, a fair racer and quick to correctly read the situation and react. What makes you say that?
Walkie Talky
6th May 2025, 13:37
Sainz never said Hamilton was in the wrong.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
5th May 2025, 8:49
Sainz has some weird thoughts in his head, from being intimidated by Bottas and crying to his engineer to this. Yeh he moved it’s called defending a position and turning into a corner. Good for him that he went for it but this isn’t a cake competition at the WI
Ferdi
5th May 2025, 9:07
It was pretty clear cut Hamilton did nothing wrong here and Sainz was quite desperate to overtake his former car. Had it not been Sainz but Max it woud have been 20 sec penalty and 25 articles on how bad Max is on this site.
Osnola
5th May 2025, 11:40
I know its the wrong forum for that: but lewis moved under braking and by a mile visible to everyone.
But ….
Peter707
5th May 2025, 12:35
Indeed. It was very obvious.
Asif Ali
5th May 2025, 13:18
Well if he did move under braking, this is against the rules and should have been picked up by the stewards seeing as the have access to all the telemetry. So in summary if the stewards did not bring it up then it was not an issue.
Ferdi
6th May 2025, 12:55
Oh, how I wish you were right and Stewards were impartial. Unfortunately the past years have clearly shown they are scripting the .. out of the championship with their very poor decision making. Quite frankly the enforcement of rules in this sport disqualifies it to be a global sports. It is quite amateur level I am afraid. Disclaimer: no F1 driver has pushed me to write this, they are all innocent (want to prevent cray fines being handed to drivers.. another sign of how low the level of FIA is these days).
az
5th May 2025, 14:15
My thoughts exactly. Also the stewards checked it: “and at the same time car 44 turned into the corner earlier than usual”. For me it was clear Hamilton was trying to block Sainz move. Also they said: “car 55 did not clearly get in a position to have the right to the racing line”, which I don’t get. Are drivers supposed to overtake without touching at any moment the racing line? Was it a dive bomb and Sainz did not have it under control?
Jere (@jerejj)
5th May 2025, 14:37
From the replay footage, he didn’t appear to move under braking or even otherwise start turning earlier than on average into the hairpin, so Sainz’s desperate late lunge from excessively far back is what truly caused the contact.
floodo1 (@floodo1)
5th May 2025, 15:46
sainz dive bombed
Edvaldo
6th May 2025, 16:51
Sainz dive bombed out of nowhere and Hamilton wouldn’t let him through, mere seconds to the flag, not in a million years.
Perry
17th May 2025, 13:32
Most of you say Hamilton did nothing wrong g wrong but the stewards acknowledged he did turn in earlier I. Reaction to Sainz and that’s against the rules. Just sayin, if he didn’t do that, there would have been a fair fight for the exit of that corner which I guess no one wants to see the side by side racing of yesteryear. Yes sainz was late going in but he had a chance until Hamilton breached the rules. I like Hamilton but in this case, I guess I’m biased because I hate the rule that prevents corner to corner racing because the car that edges ever so slightly ahead has the right to the best line. In my view, a rule that denies great racing. If a driver gets a nose in, the other should concede and give room because he could not prevent the driver from getting in there by his own limits