“I made mistakes, Charles made mistakes and Verstappen will make them”, This is how Carlos Sainz defended his team-mate Charles Leclerc after the Monegasque’s accident against the wall in the 2022 F1 French GP, which further removed him from the title. In addition, the Spaniard, when asked about the final strategy and the bad pit stop that eventually led him to suffer a 5-second penalty, wanted to play down the matter after the race, again showing his spirit of the team.
The rider from Madrid was hurt by his team’s failures. First, because of a very slow pit stop, he lost a lot of time. And immediately after, they gave him entrance to the pit lane when a Williams. It’s a miracle they didn’t collide but that led him to sanction in 5 seconds. Later, the team told him he was allowed “5 seconds to stop and go”, something he didn’t have. It’s either 5 seconds or a ‘Stop and Go’, which are two different things. And Carlos makes it clear over the radio from the car: “It’s not stop and go, it’s a 5 second penalty”.
And then, the team was very doubtful whether to stop it or not at the end because they didn’t know if the medium tire Carlos was riding would make it to the end to fight for the podium. They told him to go to the pits only after agreeing that he would not stop, and they did so in the middle of a battle with Pérez, something to which Sainz exclaimed: “Not now!” “I don’t understand anything” he said after trying to stop again.
However, in the statements on ‘DAZN F1’, it is colder, the Spaniard wants to downplay it. “First of all, I think it was a good comeback. It was a shame to have that mediocre tire after the ‘Safety Car’ which put us in doubt whether to stop or not. In the end it put us in doubt whether to stop or not to stop. In the end we made the safe decision to stop rather than run out of tires at the end, so it was necessary to calmly evaluate what the best option was. I had a different impression of the car but the team had more data than me to make the decision they made and I am sure that with their data they will make the right decision.commented Carlos, who was named driver of the day by F1 fans for his many overtaking starts from 19th.
“Being on the podium, like us, even with a bad pit stop means that the race was very good, because we lost a lot of time in the pit stop. We were going fast, a Mercedes and a Red Bull passed on the track, which it’s not easy to catch today as we saw. Maybe without that bad pit stop and with a bit of luck we can still finish on the podium. That’s why I’m still a little frustrated. But then when you see it and analyze it calmly, you also have to settle for that fifth because it’s a good comeback”, he said, not sure if the decision to stop at the end was the right one. From the car he would have preferred to stay on the track after taking 3rd after a good overtake on Pérez, but he could have struggled to defend himself at the end. Otherwise, he finished 5th just short of the podium places because when he stopped there were 10 laps left and he was 30″ out of third place.
“I don’t know exactly what happened in the car,” he said in surprise when asked by Leclerc. Then they told him that Leclerc said it was a pilot error.
“I thought he lost at Turn 11, which is a corner we’ve been kind of fighting with the car behind all weekend. They’re the things that happen. The four of us are going to the limit, we’re going to the limit. I’ve done some mistakes, Charles made them, Verstappen will make them… we are very fast at the front and that’s what will happen”, he concluded, giving his teammate a cape.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
