Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz insists that his call to go against the Maranello team’s instructions in the final part of last weekend’s British Grand Prix was the right decision and admitted that would not change anything taking into consideration the fact that the outcome was a win for himself and Scuderia Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz was about four seconds behind his Maranello team mate Charles Leclerc at the Silverstone circuit when Esteban Ocon was forced to stop his Alpine car on track which resulted in a Safety Car being called out with just 13 laps until the end of the race. Carlos Sainz was called by Ferrari for a tyre change, while Charles Leclerc remained out on track with the old hard tyres. Ahead of the race restart, Ferrari sent a team radio message to the Spanish driver, asking him to back the rest of the pack up by ten car lengths in order to give Charles Leclerc some clear air in front, and a chance of defending his position on the old hard tyres.
However, Carlos Sainz did not agree with such an instruction and ultimately went on to overtake his teammate and secure his maiden Formula One win, as Charles Leclerc had to settle for a place outside the podium, losing a great opportunity to reduce the gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings. As the focus now shifts to the Austrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz confirmed he had no regrets about his actions last week.
“Well Ferrari won, I won, so for sure it was not the wrong decision. I think at that time, in the car I knew perfectly what I had to do. I knew not to put Charles in a compromised position, but also to give Ferrari a race win – that is what the team cares the most about and I think everything I did was sensible. I didn’t put Charles under unnecessary risk or pressure while overtaking him, knowing that I was going to overtake him fairly easily on the soft. I won the race for Ferrari and I think it was a good outcome in the end. So yes, I would have done it the same again and I think the team perfectly understood my position – that’s why they didn’t call again for the 10 car lengths because they knew that what I had argued during the radio comment was totally valid.” – the Spanish driver explained.
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Carlos Sainz also confirmed there was no animosity from Charles Leclerc during the post-race team briefing: “Like always, he behaved like the gentleman that he is and the briefing was normal. The way it goes when I have a bad race is [it’s] a normal briefing and the way it goes when he has a bad race, it’s also a normal briefing. It’s one of the strong points that we have as team mates and as drivers, and as a team spirit that we have in Ferrari.” – the Spanish driver explained.
At the same time, Carlos Sainz said that scoring his maiden Formula 1 race victory at the 150th time of asking had only made him all the more determined to repeat the performance as soon as possible, maybe even this weekend in Austria: “If anything, this win has just given me more hunger to try and do it again as soon as possible, and to keep fighting for those wins,” he concluded.
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