Max Verstappen has shrugged off criticism from Carlos Sainz after the pair were involved in a contentious move during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, the Dutchman calling the midfield a “jungle” amid his recovery up the field.
The Dutchman appeared to have the lead at the start of the race, but fell down the order after a dramatic 360 spin upon exiting the Turn 2 completing a superb save to keep the car pointing in the right direction.
Verstappen fell down to 16th after pitting to Hards early, during the Safety Car period that was triggered by teammate Isack Hadjar’s crash.
The Red Bull driver then began his fightback, and reached Sainz’s Williams, which was in the points.
An ambitious move by Verstappen at Turn 17 saw Sainz take avoiding action and ultimately fall back himself, leading him to tell his team over radio: “He pushed me off. He thinks he can do whatever he wants because he’s racing the midfield!”
Verstappen, despite receiving a five-second penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line, finished fifth, benefitting from a separate penalty, handed to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Sainz, meanwhile, finished ninth, one place ahead of teammate Alex Albon, completing a first double-points finish for Williams this year.
When asked after the race what he thought about Sainz’s complaints, Verstappen told media, including Motorsport Week: “I don’t know. It’s a bit of a jungle in the midfield, so I don’t know what to say.”
Carlos Sainz ‘frustrated’ by ‘borderline’ Max Verstappen manoeuvre
Despite looking at the incident from a calmer perspective after the race, Sainz still gave a critical view of it from his perspective after the race.
“No disrespect, but what he did into [Turn] 17 is almost like a launch, knowing that because we’re the midfield, we were not going to fight him, and we were going to have to let him by at some point. But what he did there is borderline,” he told media, including Motorsport Week.
“It would probably stem [from] a bit of frustration of the spin and tried to get back to the front as much as possible.
“I mean, it’s racing. I’m not going to criticise it too much. It’s just, at that point, it felt like we were going to crash, and he took me off the track and I lost three positions, so it was frustrating.”
Verstappen certainly had more to be pleased about in Miami, despite his spin, having seen improvements in his Red Bull package to confirm progress has been made in the five-week break.
Discussion about this post