Williams driver Nicholas Latifi accepted full responsibility for his clash with Haas’ Romain Grosjean as he explained the set of circumstances that led to the bizarre collision.
Latifi struggled for pace throughout the Turkish Grand Prix weekend and went a lap down early on in the race.
When being lapped by Grosjean the two came together through Turn 9, spinning the Frenchman, who then spun once more as he tried to re-join the circuit.
Both drivers eventually retired due to damage and stewards gave Latifi a reprimand for the incident.
“I mean first off it was my mistake, but both drivers were struggling with the same thing, as I heard afterwards, as I could not see out of my mirrors from basically lap one,” he said.
“Not from rain or fog, they were just coated in a layer of dust and dirt, like the rest of the car.
“When you’re on the same lap and pace as everyone it’s manageable but obviously as I fell back quite early on and was straightaway out of sequence and into that spiral you can’t get out of, it was very tricky to manage [when being lapped].
“You can only rely on the radio messages so much, gaps and stuff, I know when they’re within a second because of the beep from the blue lights but then so much of letting the drivers by is seeing and using your eyes.
“It was just unfortunate that I got the gap, whichever Renault it was, Grosjean followed, I pulled off to the side, braked on the inside line to let them have the racing line, but they were much further back than I thought as I couldn’t see them.
“When the Renault went by I was by the turning point, but had no grip and understeered into Romain.
“It was my mistake but it was unfortunate. You could argue I could have braked earlier but at the same time it could go either way as you still have to judge where they are on track.”
It marked the second retirement of the season for both drivers.
