Carlos Sainz opens up on Pierre Gasly altercation that left F1 rival seething
Carlos Sainz opened up on his altercation with Pierre Gasly after the British GP.
During the race, the Spaniard was involved in an entertaining battle with the Alpine driver. At one stage the Frenchman overtook Sainz before the Ferrari star took the place back at Copse corner. Gasly was left fuming and was heard on his team radio yelling: "He can't push me like that! F***, he didn't give me any space!"
Still frustrated with the incident post-race, while Sainz was being interviewed by Spanish TV Gasly walked past his rival, prodded his arm and said: "Don't treat me like that, Carlos." The Ferrari driver then smiled while still looking at the reporter he was speaking to and replied: "Pobrecito," which translates as "poor baby".
Reflecting on the incident, Sainz says he has no hard feelings toward his fellow driver and swiftly moved on from the incident. "I think it's part of F1," he told Mirror Sport, via sponsors Estrella Galicia. "We have high adrenaline and high tension after the race. We are risking our lives and we are doing very risky moves out there.
"So when you feel you've been put on the limit and that's what we were, he got out of the car a bit upset. Normally I'm good at staying away from those emotional circumstances, I didn't react to it in any kind of way. Some drivers manage, others don't. It's fine, I don't care."
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Sainz returned to the UK to compete in the British GP a year after securing his only Grand Prix victory at Silverstone. His fortunes changed drastically 12 months on, as an error in strategy and an untimely safety car saw the driver plummet down the grid to finish 10th, after starting the race P5.
Providing his assessment of the race, Sainz shared: "We were just not as quick as we expected to be. I think Mercedes and McLaren had better race pace than us. We also got unlucky with the safety car. We felt with the safety car we would have finished P6 and P7. The safety car meant we had no tyres left and we went backwards, but that's how racing goes sometimes.”
Carlos Sainz looked stunned for a second after being prodded by Pierre GaslyAfter finishing second place in the 2022 Constructor Standings, Ferrari fans had reason to be optimistic for this season. But in 2023, they have failed to win a race and have managed just two podium finishes so far, both coming from Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc.
Sainz's highest finish was P4 in the first race of the year in Bahrain and he sits fifth in the Driver’s Standings with 83 points. Despite achieving below their expectations so far this season, the Spaniard is happy with his personal performances as he expanded on the current situation at Ferrari. "I'm having a strong season, I'm driving well, I'm pushing the car to its limits and I'm maximising what I think the car this year can do,” he shared.
"The results are not as good as we would like them to be, from a team point of view we expected a bit more from this year. We expected more points, we expected wins and they are not coming. We are not 100% happy but I think at least we are finding the solutions, we are finding the new road to go in that direction."
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