Carlos Sainz was left annoyed with the stewards during the US GP, and reckoned their interference cost his team a better result.
The Ferrari and McLaren drivers were involved in some brilliant racing at COTA, exchanging places back and forth. Sainz would finish in seventh place, but he felt Ferrari should have finished ahead of McLaren.
At one point, the Spaniard yielded to Daniel Ricciardo to prevent a collision. However, the FIA asked him to let Lando Norris pass as well.
As a result, Sainz was left annoyed with the stewards during the US GP, and suggested that they frustrated his team and cost them a better result.
“On Lap 1 there was a bit of a mess with the two McLarens, fighting the two of them, trying to defend, and in the end I made it ahead of them but I decided to let by one of them just in case the stewards were going to take action,” he told Sky F1, as quoted by Planet F1.
“And in the end, they even took action even though I let them by, a bit confusing to be honest and I don’t like how they play with the positions, because I think what I actually did of letting by one of them was already quite genuine and should have been enough.”
Not Daniel’s fault
However, Sainz refused to blame Ricciardo for anything he did in the battle with the pair, suggesting that he would have done the same in his position.
“My take is that the guy on the inside does this kind of thing on purpose always to try and squeeze the guy on the outside, I would have done the same,” he continued.
“The thing is that it could have been rough with the contact. I think he could have done it a bit cleaner because I nearly spun, but it’s all good. I would have done a similar thing if I was in his position.”
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