After a brief tussle with his teammate Charles Leclerc in the first lap of the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and discussing with the Monegasque driver after at the end of the Brazilian event, Carlos Sainz was quick to tell the media “don’t get the wrong idea” regarding possible tensions between the two drivers.
Carlos had a poor start from P3 on Sunday, while Charles Leclerc in the other SF21 car was able to gain a few positions: as a result the Maranello drivers found themselves in a position to battle on track for much of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. They brought their cars home in fifth and sixth places with Charles Leclerc crossing the line two seconds ahead of his team-mate.
Carlos Sainz was seen shortly after the race speaking with Charles Leclerc, prompting the question what that was all about. Asked by Sky Italia if he was speaking with the Monégasque about their fight out on track, the Spanish driver shut that down.
“No,” he said. “I just asked him how the car was for him today. No, don’t get the wrong idea.”
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Carlos was more concerned about his own start, explaining he slipped up with the start procedure and that meant he got involved in lap 1 antics with Lando Norris, which left his former team-mate with puncture.
“At the start I shouldn’t have been fighting with Lando at Turn 1. I started very badly. I think I did yesterday’s same procedure, I did everything in the same way, but for some reason we still have to understand we had a lot of wheel spin, which is one of those things that I don’t understand very well because I think the procedure was the same. So there’s something to understand there, then from there on I had a very good pace, good tyre management, but for some reason here overtaking is very difficult. I’ve been very fast all weekend but it’s like this.” – he explained.
All in all, Carlos cannot be tottaly pleased with the outcome of the Brazilian Grand Prix given the fact that he started from third place: “I wanted to finish in the top five,” he said. “I think today the pace and everything was right to finish in the top five. I had a great pace today, I followed Charles all the race but with dirty air it was difficult to get closer than two seconds. That means we had a good pace but when you lose it all at the start for two weekends in a row, Mexico and here, when you’ve been faster all weekend, that leaves you a bad feeling. But it’s like this, we’ll keep pushing and improving. The important thing is that I’m fast, I’m improving every race and I’m giving myself good opportunities.” – he concluded.
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