Carlos Sainz Jr, the Spanish driver for Ferrari, made a controversial move during the final stages of the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint, according to his teammate Charles Leclerc. The two Ferrari drivers were battling for the last spot on the podium when Sainz attempted to pass Fernando Alonso, who was struggling with his performance. Sainz made his move on the outside at Turn 6, but Alonso fought back and the two cars made contact. This allowed Sergio Perez to take third place, with Leclerc also overtaking Alonso and setting his sights on Sainz. However, Sainz made a late braking maneuver at the Turn 14 hairpin and collided with Leclerc, forcing him off the track. Leclerc believes that Sainz’s aggression was excessive in this situation and hopes that they can resolve the issue through a discussion, as they have done in the past. Despite the incident, Leclerc was able to take the lead in the Ferrari battle on the following lap, thanks to Sainz’s mistake.
Leclerc made two previous attempts to overtake Perez during the race and believes that a third attempt could have been successful if he hadn’t lost time while battling with Sainz.
“It’s unfortunate that we lost that gap to Perez and couldn’t make the move,” he said.
“But that’s how it goes. P4 could have been P3, just one point. There’s always room for improvement, but now our focus is on this afternoon’s qualifying session. It hasn’t been going well for me in the last two races, but I’ve put in a lot of work and I’m confident that I’ve made progress. It’s up to me to prove it now.
“I think yesterday’s qualifying sessions were really good. I need to replicate that performance tonight, this afternoon.”
Sainz explained that he damaged his tires while trying to overtake Verstappen at the start of the race, which contributed to his later clash with his teammate.
“Well, I think I had a good start. I was pushing Max hard at the beginning because I knew that if I could pass him, I had a strong chance of winning the race,” Sainz said.
“That probably affected my tires, and then I had to manage them for the rest of the race.
“Until I caught up to Fernando, I made a really good move around the outside of Turn 7.
“From that point on, he decided to go all or nothing into Turn 9, which ended up costing both of us the race. I think I picked up damage and a lot of dirt on my tires from that optimistic move.
“After that, I was sliding around with the damage and dirt on my tires, doing everything I could to defend. I may have had a moment with Charles, but if I went over the limit, I apologize. I was racing hard today and doing my best to stay in control out there.”