Sainz frustrated by the safety car… and by his engine penalty

Carlos Sainz was in a grumpy mood this weekend in Italy. For the home race of the Team, who was also celebrating his 75th birthday, the Spaniard was not really in the mood for the celebrations. With a race already compromised even before the start by a heavy engine penalty, the Ferrari driver had little hope of seeking victory at Monza.

However, number 55 gave everything, with numerous overtakes at the start of the race. “ I had good feelings, declared the Madrilenian after the Grand Prix. We drove faster than expected, we were very fast and I could almost pass one car per lap. This allowed me to lose little time and quickly get behind Russell, which was my goal. »

After putting on soft tires halfway through the race, Carlos Sainz was gradually closing in on the Briton... before the intervention of the safety car, 7 laps from the end. “ By the time I got to 4th, [Russell] was a little far behind, so I tried to catch him. We were going to close the gap in these last laps until the safety car came out. (…) We took more than a second from him per lap and that would have allowed us to be on his heels”, explained the Spaniard. “But we were going really fast, we did a lot of overtaking and it was fun. »

“Without the penalty, we could have made a team strategy” considers Sainz

If the arrival of the Safety Car dashed the Madrilenian's hopes of a podium, Carlos Sainz also believes that Ferrari's choice to suffer a penalty at Monza was perhaps not the right one. According to the Spaniard, the Scuderia had a real chance of victory if they had played two against one against Verstappen.

“This weekend we were much closer. If I hadn't had a penalty this weekend we would have had both cars to do a team strategy, confided Carlos Sainz. We would have put Max [Verstappen] under a lot more pressure and it would have been a better option for both. But in the end I wasn't there and Max was able to respond to Leclerc. We'll see if I'm done with these penalties, and the fact that I'm here could put more pressure on Max. »

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