Carlos Sainz expressed his frustration to our newspaper after finishing fourth at the Austrian Grand Prix, while feeling faster than Charles Leclerc, who was on the second rung of the podium.
After the start, the Spanish driver clung to his second-placed teammate for long periods, but did not initiate the overtaking maneuver at the behest of Ferrari, after which two incidents put him back in the race. Firstly, there was the loss of a few seconds of time that afflicted Sainz because the team called two of its drivers behind the virtual safety car to change tires at the same time – the Spaniard was already grumbling about the decision, thinking that the pit stops could have been postponed until later. The one-time race winner later received a five-second penalty for a series of laps, which he had to complete during his second serve, so despite his heroic defense, he quickly became a victim of Sergio Pérez in the battle for the bottom. Step on the platform.
“I think a double podium was possible, considering how good my pace was,” Sainz told Racingline. This question is after the gesture, before going into detail about how unfair it feels that he hasn’t been able to stand on the podium even once this year.
“I am a bit disappointed that my racing speed has been excellent lately. I would be happy if that was better reflected in the results, because I feel I am very fast in racing this year, I have made great progress compared to last year, which is supported by my pace yesterday and today. Fourth place is not bad, but it could have been second or third place too.”
Paper 19/71
Wheel to wheel 🤯
Sainz makes a massive move after Hamilton to take P4 #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/nd8LD4c6Md
– Formula 1 (@F1) July 2, 2023
“I am very satisfied with my performance today, I made clean maneuvers and defended well against Chico. Once I got behind a car, I passed it immediately, also managing to take care of my tires while attacking. Given the speed, overtaking and defense I showed, I don’t see the positives of this fourth place.” .
Sainz added that the team’s instructions given at the start of the race, that he could not overtake Leclerc, were not a surprise, as they were based on an initial discussion.
“We agreed before the race that we would work together on the first stage in order to get away from those behind us. Because of this, the team didn’t want us to fight. I followed that plan even though I was fast and could probably overtake,” said Sainz. .
