Carlos Sainz says contact with Lewis Hamilton was to be expected given the Briton “moved” when he saw him dive up the inside at Turn 17 at the Miami Grand Prix.

Ferrari’s late-race swap between Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, the latter having initially given sixth to his team-mate before they were told to swap back, meant Sainz was all over Hamilton’s rear wing heading into the final lap at the Miami Autodrome.

Carlos Sainz: If you follow exactly the rule book…

The Spaniard made a late-braking lunge on his Ferrari replacement into Turn 17, but it was as Hamilton turned into the corner.

Both cars survived the banging of wheels, with Hamilton and Sainz crossing the line seventh and eighth respectively.

Sainz complained on the radio: “He moved a bit under braking there.”

It’s a stance the Williams driver maintained as he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, that Hamilton moved when he saw the Spaniard begin to dive up his inside.

And doing that, well, contact is “quite typical” then.

“No, I just, I think he obviously was doing the best he could to defend,” Sainz said.

“I had a go into the last corner. He moved as soon as he saw me dive. And that created contact, which I think is quite typical, honestly.

“But obviously, if you follow exactly the rule book, he cannot move as much as he did, but on the last lap that’s how it goes.”

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The stewards, though, didn’t agree with Sainz as they announced that there’d be no consequences for either driver as both had played a role in the contact.

‘Car 55 attempted an overtake on the inside of Car 44 into Turn 17 and both cars made contact at the apex,’ read the FIA stewards’ verdict.

‘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.’

The contact capped a difficult Sunday in Miami for the four-time Grand Prix winner, who not only started the race on used tyres that he’s already run in qualifying, but a clash with his team-mate Alex Albon at the start also damaged his FW47.

While Albon brought his car home in fifth place, Sainz was seventh. It was, nevertheless, Williams’ third double points-haul in six Grands Prix.

“I think we were in the battle with Mercedes and Ferrari, which is really encouraging,” Sainz said.

“I truly believe, with a new tyre and no damage in the car, I would have been there in the fight for P5 given our starting position, so I’d be disappointed that we didn’t get there to maximise that pace this weekend.

“But too many operational error, and we will look back at it and see how we can improve because I want, next time we have this competitive car, I want to be the one maximising it.”

Williams currently sit fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, a position they last achieved in 2017.

The team is leading Formula 1’s midfield battle in the much-improved FW47 having worked to create a “less snappy, more predictable” car.

Albon, who is in his fourth season with the team, explained the changes in the build-up to the Miami race.

“I think that the biggest thing for me is more just that the car is easier to be on the limit,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com.

“It’s less snappy, more predictable, less sensitive to wind changes and in general that makes you able to deliver better laps more consistently.

“I still make the odd mistake here and there, it happens. But I feel like I can do a better job more consistently because the car is just a bit more driveable.”

“I was always really confident that we were going to make progress as a team,” he added. “I saw the areas and the philosophy of the car changing, and the ideas we were focusing on for this year.

“We drove it on the simulator, and it was definitely better, but I think we found more pace in the car than what the simulator told us it would be. That’s quite a rare and very positive thing to have.”

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