Carlos Sainz Jnr says Ferrari accepted his call for them to “stop inventing” instructions on the radio during the British Grand Prix.
Ferrari told him to drop 10 car lengths behind his race-leading team mate Charles Leclerc during the Safety Car period towards the end of Sunday’s race. Sainz refused, pointing out he was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton and other drivers behind him.
Sainz immediately passed Leclerc at the restart, who also fell behind Hamilton and Sergio Perez by the end of the race. Speaking in the FIA press conference yesterday, four days after claiming his first grand prix win, Sainz said his victory vindicated his decision not to follow the team’s instructions.
“Ferrari won, I won, so for sure it was not the wrong decision,” he said. “At that time, in the car, I did perfectly know what I had to do in order to not put Charles in a compromised position but also to give Ferrari a race win, that is what the team cares the most about.
“I think everything I did was sensible at the end. I didn’t put Charles under unnecessary risk or pressure while overtaking him, knowing that I was going to overtake him fairly easily on the soft. I pulled away, won the race for Ferrari and I think it was a good outcome in the end.”
Sainz said he “would have done it the same again” and believes Ferrari accept he did the right thing.
“I think the team perfectly understood my position. That’s why they didn’t call again for the 10 car lengths because they knew that what I had argued during the radio comment was totally valid also.”
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After the race, Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto confirmed he had no grievance with Sainz’s resistance to leave a gap to his team mate.
“When we told him to give a rest to Charles after the Safety Car restart, what he said is not that he didn’t want to do it, he said ‘the guys behind me would be very aggressive, so I need to protect and somehow try to react, so leave it to me’,” Binotto explained soon after the race.
“So I think he understood properly what was the intention. I think not only he understood, but he’s very good in the way that he’s acting and I’m very happy with this.”
Despite Leclerc’s obvious disappointment at losing a race he had been on course to win, Sainz praised his team mate’s composure afterwards.
“It was a…
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