Carlos Sainz has warned Charles Leclerc after the latter’s expletive-laden radio outburst after the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Following the race where Sainz finished third and Leclerc fourth, the Monegasque unleashed an expletive-laden rant over the radio, claiming he had been “fucked” by the strategy of the team.
As Leclerc closed up behind Sainz with Lewis Hamilton in close attendance, the Spanish racer asked to pit and even try “Plan C” and avoided a penalty after appearing to duck into the pit-lane before not stopping.
Hamilton would pass both cars to finish second behind the race-winner George Russell, with the Ferrari pair passing new world champion Max Verstappen late on to finish third and fourth, and cut the gap to McLaren to 24 points in the constructors’ standings.
Reflecting on the Leclerc’s outburst, Sainz said he preferred to keep things private.
“We were ahead of Lewis, and it had already been a couple of laps since I asked to pit, so it meant that we both were losing a lot of race time at the same time,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“There was this situation where I had to let Charles by, I lost a lot of time, I am not going to lie, I am pretty unhappy about it, but at the same time, Mercedes was just quicker.
“I don’t like using the radio to complain or to do anything, I don’t like using the media to criticise or demonstrate or prove that I am unhappy or not.
“I prefer to do that behind closed doors because there are never any good outcomes from this kind of comments to the media.
“The whole situation was a bit messy, and I am the first one who is not happy, but it is what it is.”
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Sainz explains more
In the official FIA press conference, Sainz expanded further on the circumstances behind what had actually happened in the incident with his team-mate.
“He grained the mediums, I got ahead before the pitstops, then I grained my hards, and he was coming quickly behind me, and anticipating what was going to be a situation, because Lewis was right behind Charles, I was sure that the team was going to ask me to let Charles by,” he told media including RacingNews365.
“I asked the team two or three times to box me, to get me out of the way and get me a new set of hards as I was losing a lot of race time by having to let Charles by and then having to fight Lewis at the same time.
“For some reason, we didn’t box and I ended up having to let Charles by a lap later than was planned and losing a lot of race time, and by the time I was gonna box, then we didn’t even box.
“So I guess he’s not happy, but I’m also not happy with the way things were handled at the time.
“No-one’s happy today in the team, because we all expected a bit more.”
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