Carlos Sainz claimed “no one’s happy” at Ferrari amid Charles Leclerc’s post-race tirade at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Leclerc was left raging post-race over team radio after Sainz went against team orders and passed him amid the second round of pit stops.
“I did my job but being nice fucks me over all the fucking time, all the fucking time,” Leclerc fumed.
Sainz however, felt aggrieved having had to let Leclerc by ahead of the stops, with the Spaniard’s delayed when the Ferrari pit crew wasn’t ready to receive him.
“Yeah, I think he grained the Medium tyres and I managed to get ahead before the pit stop on Mediums,” Sainz explained post-race.
“Then I did grain my Hards and he was coming quick behind me and me anticipating what was going to be a situation, because Lewis [Hamilton] was straight behind Charles at the time, and I was pretty sure the team was going to ask me to let Charles by because he was quicker at the time.
“As I was on grained tyres, I asked the team two or three times to box me, to get me out of the way, and get me a new set of Hards to make sure that I wasn’t losing a lot of race time by having to let Charles by and then having to fight Lewis at the same time.
“For some reason we didn’t box and I ended up having to let Charles by a lap later than was planned and losing a lot of race time.
“And by the time I was going to box, then we didn’t even box. So I guess he’s not happy, but I’m also not happy with the way things were handled at the time.
“And yeah, I think no one’s happy today in the team because we all expected a bit more. I’m on the podium, so at least I got that for the team.
“But at the same time, I don’t think we could have finished much better than P3 and P4 today.”
Frederic Vasseur seeks to cool tempers at Ferrari post-Vegas
Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur said the Italian squad would need a debrief to appease its quarrelling drivers.
“We have to avoid to fight but at this stage I think that opening the stint you have to be really on the management side,” Vassuer said.
“Carlos he was already Lap 3 or 4 of the stint but I think it’s more the fact that the situation was really difficult for everybody, we will discuss tonight it won’t be an issue.”
READ MORE – Carlos Sainz willing to accept Ferrari team orders to assist Charles Leclerc
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