Carlos Sainz’s radio freak out at the Monaco Grand Prix against his Ferrari team occupied the minds in the short week before the Spanish Grand Prix and was even the reason for our “Bad sleep” column. Now he explains himself before his home round at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“A fair assessment,” he replies when asked if he had a more aggressive attitude than the team. “I was pretty aggressive, I really wanted to get on the podium and I was willing to take the risk, on the hard [Reifen] to stay,” the 28-year-old explains the events. “When I was behind Esteban [Ocon] came out of the box, I was pretty frustrated.”
“But I also understand the team’s point of view. We are fighting for the team title with Mercedes and behind us was Lewis who had just done a very fast outlap on the hard tires. We had to protect ourselves from him and defend our position.” Sainz on.
“If you explain that to me and give me the reasons, I completely understand. Only I wasn’t in the right mood at the time.” Sainz wanted more, he wanted to be on the podium and felt like he could be faster than Ocon.
“I was just much more focused on extending the stint on Hart, to maybe catch the rain, to catch a safety car, to catch anything that would give me a podium. In the end, we never will knowledge.”
Lack of race pace as a fundamental evil
In general, he attests Ferrari’s strategy department “continuous development” after it had repeatedly made questionable decisions in recent years. “We’re making progress, but it’s not an easy year for us.” By that he means above all the old Ferrari problem of being significantly stronger in qualifying than in the race.
“When you’re further up the grid all year round than race pace allows, there’s always going to be doubt and criticism about the way you drive the race because you’re always falling behind. That makes it difficult to do the first six races of the season.”
“I have the feeling that the team is doing everything they can to be as strong as possible in this area. But as with everything, there is still room for improvement and we want to take advantage of that.”
Ferrari’s strategy paved the way for Ocon to the podium for Alpine, while Sainz later lost time by spinning on slicks in the rain at the Mirabeau corner after another questionable strategic move from Ferrari, finishing eighth.