WATCH: Ferrari team orders leave Sainz unhappy after Leclerc’s complaints at Portimao

Team assignments can leave an ugly taste in the mouths of F1 drivers. On the last lap at Imola in particular, Daniel Ricciardo had to swallow his pride when McLaren asked him to switch to the faster Lando Norris. And now Ferrari pursued it this time, with Carlos Sainz being the unfortunate victim of it.

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On lap 45 of the Portuguese GP, when Sainz was in seventh place ahead of Charles Leclerc, the eighth Monegasque rider complained about his team appointment because of Sainz’s relatively slow pace.

“It’s very difficult to follow,” Leclerc told his race engineer.

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Formula 1 F1 – Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy – Ferraris Carlos Sainz Jr. in action during the REUTERS / Jennifer Lorenzini qualifying

In response, his race engineer asked him to drive faster and overtake Sainz’s slower Ferrari. First, Leclerc was confused when Sainz intentionally drove slowly to save his tires. And then he told his race engineer that he couldn’t go any faster – “His car is fighting or is saving? I can’t go much faster people. “

The Ferrari pit wall became known and the think tank decided to swap their cars. Leclerc was told by his race engineer that his teammate would let him through at Turn 5. They asked Sainz to follow protocol, but the Spaniard wasn’t particularly happy.

“But why? I’m currently going through the grain phase,” said Sainz in return, before finally passing Leclerc on Turn 5.

Did Ferrari spoil Carlos Sainz’s race?

Qualifying couldn’t have gone better for the former McLaren driver. He was the fifth fastest driver on Saturday, just behind two title rivals Mercedes and Red Bull. And when the lights went out, he overtook Sergio Perez and finished in fourth place before Kimi Raikkonen went out.

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Ferraris Sainz insists he is no slower than “Qualifying Expert” Leclerc in “Any Corner”

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After the safety car period, Perez took his place again, but Sainz still showed a decent pace on his first stint. But it was his second stint on the inconvenient medium tires that spoiled his race. All drivers with good lap times ran on hard compounds.

Formula 1 F1 – Pre-Season Testing – Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain – March 13, 2021 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. arrives before the REUTERS / Hamad I Mohammed test

Ferrari decided to put the hard Pirelli tires on his teammate Charles Leclerc himself. Which begs the question: why did they put the media on Sainz? What was your logic behind it? You have some explanations to do here; Their strategic mistakes cost Sainz when he lost the points in Portimao.

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