There is controversy in China over the racing conduct adopted by Carlos Sainz towards his Maranello teammate at the end of the sprint race in Shanghai. Indeed, on lap 16 of 19, Charles Leclerc attempted an overtaking move on the outside at the braking point of Shanghai’s long straight, with the Spanish driver, however, widening his line entering the corner, forcing the Monégasque off the track.
There was also a minor contact between the two, fortunately without consequences, with Charles Leclerc then managing to overtake beautifully in turn 1. However, this was enough to infuriate the Monegasque, who complained profusely via radio about the Spaniard’s staunch defense.
Interviewed after the race, Carlos Sainz offered his version of the events: “I don’t think anyone was happy. For the first three laps, I tried to pass Max. Maybe I wore out the tire too much trying to pass him.” – the Spaniard pointed out – “I knew if I could pass him I might try to win, so I gambled on trying to pass him. Then I used up too much tire, I was running behind Fernando for too long. Then I attacked and managed to pass him.”
The Spaniard then had something to say about the behavior of his compatriot, with the race direction summoning both for what happened: “I think he made a bit of an optimistic move to repass me, which ultimately cost him and me the race.” – Carlos Sainz pointed out – “I suffered a lot of damage and from that point on, I slid backwards. I was doing everything I could to defend and obviously sliding. Maybe had a moment there with Charles but I apologize if I did something over the limit but we were all racing really hard today. It’s a shame because I believe we could have fought for the podium without the incident with Fernando, but that’s racing, it’s just how it is. Now we have to think about the qualifying.” – he added.
Finally, giving an overall assessment of the season’s first sprint race, Carlos Sainz commented: “It was a fun race on one hand, a bit frustrating on the other. I had a good pace, but at the same time, I spent too much on the tires at the beginning. The races are very nice, a bit over the limit from time to time, but they are races and I enjoyed it.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
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