Will Stevens admitted his surprise that Romain Grosjean hit his car during the Canadian Grand Prix that forced the Briton into the pits to replace a broken front wing.
The Manor F1 Team driver was allowing the Lotus F1 Team driver to lap him when the Frenchman pulled back across the circuit, breaking Stevens’ wing against Grosjean’s rear tyre.
“After a good start I was having a really strong race, managing to get ahead of my team-mate despite a problem with the front left in the pit stop, which lost us quite a bit of time,” said Stevens.
“After that my race was going pretty much according to our one-stop plan and then on lap 50 I was hit by Grosjean as he was passing me, which was a little surprising as I left him so much room.
“It was an unnecessary accident and one that required another pit stop for front wing damage. The wing was snapped clean in two.”
When asked further about the incident, Stevens spoke about wanting respect from the drivers he lets through while being lapped, feeling that incidents like this could happen again if respect isn’t given.
“If cars want to try and cut across you like this in braking zones, those types of accidents are only going to happen more,” said Stevens to Autosport.
“I understand blue flags and that we need to let the guys past, but I feel like I am always really fair with that. In return I think it would be nice if they could respect us and give us at least a car width’s room to take into the corner.
“Otherwise it ruins their race as they get damaged and it also ruins our race as well.”
Despite the incident, Stevens felt it had been a stronger weekend for the Manor team in Montreal, despite his team-mate Roberto Merhi’s retirement that ended the perfect record of finishing races in 2015.
“All that aside, it’s been a stronger weekend for us here,” said Stevens. “It’s a shame we had our first retirement with Roberto’s car, but that was a good long run compared to other teams and I’m sure we’ll have things sorted for Austria.”
