The Abu Dhabi weekend is certainly not going in the best way for the Spanish Ferrari driver. After the major incident in the second free practice session, Carlos Sainz failed to make it past the Q1 cut, so he will only start from the sixteenth position in the Abu Dhabi GP. However, in post-qualifying interviews, Carlos Sainz complained a lot about the traffic and two drivers in particular, Pierre Gasly and George Russell, whom he believes deliberately hindered him in the last good attempt to reach Q2.
Carlos Sainz’s accusation
Once out of the car, the Spanish driver complained to the microphones about the attitude of George Russell and Pierre Gasly. “I found a lot of traffic,” declared the Ferrari driver. “I think the Mercedes did it on purpose. It took turn five in front of me. The Alpine was in front of me in turns two and three.”
In his lap, Carlos Sainz indeed found Pierre Gasly in the first sequence of corners and then Russell in turn five. From Carlos Sainz’s point of view, both would have stayed on the racing line until the last moment to try to hinder him. However, the stewards did not notice anything, and no incident was investigated as it did not constitute clear impeding.
“It’s hard to say, but among us drivers, we know that if you take a turn one or two seconds ahead of another car, you will make them lose a tenth or two in that turn. I see that as the weekends progress, people are taking it a bit easier,” Carlos Sainz said. “When there is a lot of tension in Q1 and Q2, I see people deliberately leaving a bit of dirty air in some corners to make others lose time.” – the Spaniard pointed out at the end of the qualifying session for the 2023 Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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The Madrid-born driver will be called upon tomorrow for a great comeback to try to win the battle with Mercedes in the constructors’ championship. However, for now, he has not been able to show competitive pace, as he himself admitted. “It is clear that the pace throughout the weekend has not been the best. We needed a perfect Q1 and Q2, given how close we all are.”
“Unfortunately, we went out very late and on the last lap because we had a problem with the front wing. Once the lap started, I found myself in the middle of traffic. In the first and second sectors, I lost a couple of tenths that probably cost me Q2.” – Carlos Sainz concluded.
Source: f1ingenerale
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