Fernando Alonso reckons Daniil Kvyat made a basic error after causing a first corner crash in the Austrian Grand Prix which took out both the McLaren driver and Max Verstappen.
The Toro Rosso driver locked up both his front tyres under braking and slammed into the side of Alonso, who was turned into Verstappen's Red Bull. Both Alonso and Verstappen were forced out of the race with damage, while several drivers were forced to take evasive action to avoid the chaos. Kvyat was later handed a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.
When asked if he felt Kvyat had made a basic error, Alonso replied: "I think so. We were at the start -- we know that it is tricky from the middle of the pack and at the back. Definitely at the first corner of the first it's not necessary to gain this extra metres but the guys behind they need to prove sometimes their seats and their future's, they risk a little bit too much.
"Nothing [was] in our hands. I was a passenger. We did a good start again, we took the benefit from Carlos and Verstappen bad starts so we were already P10 and then I arrived to the first corner and the guys behind arrived too quick."
Alonso reckons the steward's decision to hand Kvyat a drive-through penalty was too lenient after "destroying" his race.
"It was the first corner and people from behind arrived a little bit too fast and destroyed our race," he said. "We are here talking to you not in the race car. Drive-through is probably a little bit small penalty, but it is the way it is. Hopefully the next one we are without problems into Turn 1."
Kvyat, who recorded his first finish in three races -- albeit 16th and last -- feels the incident resulted from Alonso having to brake early as the field bunched together.
"It was a good start to start with," Kvyat explained. "My teammate made a poor start so I had to go around him and then I didn't see too much what was happening in front of me. I think Verstappen had a problem too, so Alonso reacted to that.
"He took a step back, and on the other hand, I braked where my references were and I saw that Fernando took his margins. Trying to correct it, the wheels were locked and then you are just hoping for the best at that stage. Then the collision happened, simple as that."