Will Stevens insisted that there was nothing he could have done to avoid his collision with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus in today’s Canadian Grand Prix, as well as warning that similar collisions will happen in the future if such driving, like that of Grosjean, continues.
On lap 48 of the Montreal race Grosjean appeared to cut across Stevens’ Manor while lapping the Englishman as they entered the final chicane. Although Grosjean’s words on the team radio suggested that he thought Stevens was to blame the stewards handed the Frenchman a five second penalty along with two penalty points.
Afterwards Stevens was adamant that the fault indeed was entirely with Grosjean: “I was completely on the white line on the left and he tried to come back across onto the racing line when I was there,” he said. “So there was absolutely nowhere I can go unless I drive on the grass, which I don’t think should be the rule that if we’re letting cars past we have to go on the grass.
“I don’t know what more I could have done, and I think the fact that he got a penalty it proves they [the stewards] also thought there was nothing I could do.
“We’re told to stay on line and the guys coming past it’s their job to get past cleanly.”
Stevens said he hadn’t spoken to Grosjean about the incident: “From my side, if he wants to come and talk about it then he can.
“I think it’s good if we can clear up what happened as for me it’s pretty clear what the situation is.”
Stevens also commented that other drivers have performed similar moves to Grosjean’s today when lapping him which will likely result in similar contact in future: “There’s a few who do that…there’s two problems with it, one they go in front of you and we lose all our downforce, and we lock fronts and get really close to hitting him.
“If cars want to try cutting across in front of you in braking zones then those types of accidents are only going to happen more.
“I understand we need blue flags and we need to let the guys past, and I feel like I always am really fair with that. But I think in return it’s nice if they can be fair and give us a car’s width room to turn into the corner because [otherwise] it ruins their race as they have damage and our race as well.
“It needs to be talked about as it will keep happening what happened today.”
