Carlos Sainz started the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in third from the second row, only to quickly lose the position to Max Verstappen, who started fourth. During the caution period, the Spaniard was set to come out of the pits and into the safety car line ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez. But as he exited the pit lane, Sainz ended up behind Checo.
Perez was found to have passed Carlos in the caution period and was thus ordered to give the place back. However, he did so only after the safety car ended.
Sainz also looked to be ahead of Perez at the Safety Car line when he emerged from the pits too, Perez might have to drop to P4 here… #F1 #SaudiArabianGPSainz also looked to be ahead of Perez at the Safety Car line when he emerged from the pits too, Perez might have to drop to P4 here… #F1 #SaudiArabianGP
In the post-race press conference, Carlos Sainz claimed that it was strange of Perez to not give the position back during the safety car itself, emphasizing that things should be simplified further:
“It’s definitely very strange. I think, as a sport, we need to keep analyzing these things because we could have simplified things so much more if Checo would have just given me the position during the safety car, which basically would have given me an opportunity to fight Max at the restart and would have given Checo an opportunity to fight me to get the position.”
Detailing the incident, he added:
“But what happened is that I was obviously fighting Checo, but I knew that Checo was going to give me a position quickly, and he couldn’t fight me because he was going to give me the position back. So, in the end, we created a mess, for me it is unnecessary given the fact that we did six laps behind the safety car and there were numerous opportunities for Checo to let me by and have a good fight at the restart.”
Carlos Sainz finished the race with a second consecutive podium, behind his teammate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
Carlos Sainz questions how the race would have played out had things gone differently
George Russell spent nearly the entire race in fifth position, right on the Ferrari driver’s tail and then later Perez’s. Carlos Sainz questioned what would have happened with the pit exit incident had he gotten passed by the Mercedes.
“If I would have got passed by Russell, for example, what would we have done? Would’ve Checo had to let by Russell and me, which would have been tremendously unfair to him too? Or then Checo does not give me back the position because there is Russell in between me and him and it’s tremendously unfair for me?”
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Inconsistencies in regulation and penalties were a major topic of discussion in the 2021 F1 season. Drivers, teams, and fans are constantly demanding clarity for clean racing.
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