Following the Abu Dhabi GP Qualifying, Carlos Sainz voiced his displeasure toward rival F1 drivers. His frustration stemmed from a challenging Q1 exit due to significant track congestion. However, now Sainz’s anger has been met with amusement by his F1 rival, Daniel Ricciardo.
At the season’s last qualifying session, Sainz failed to advance to the second round of qualifying. Subsequently, he attributed this setback to some F1 counterparts, notably pointing at a Mercedes car deliberately impeding him. However, upon investigations, no one was found responsible for the obstruction. Nevertheless, despite the lack of evidence, Sainz continued to express his frustration during the post-qualifying interview.
A dejected Sainz said, ” When it’s tight in Q1 and Q2, I see people giving people a bit of dirty air on purpose in some corners to maybe make the others lose some time in corners.”
Nevertheless, in response to Sainz’s frustration, Ricciardo appeared to playfully mock the Ferrari driver’s complaint. According to The Race, the honey badger said, “Sainz is normally the upset-er! He is definitely I don’t know why he does it but he is always the culprit.”
Interestingly, as Ricciardo prepared to start the race ahead of Sainz, he playfully proposed asking Sainz to go easy on the brakes into Turn 1 to stir things up. However, while Ricciardo was mostly engaging in good-natured teasing, he also made it clear that he found Sainz’s complaints hypocritical. According to Ricciardo, Sainz is always the driver who comes up in conversations regarding impeding.
These remarks from Ricciardo also brought into focus a past practice session where Oscar Piastri lodged complaints over the radio regarding Sainz causing obstruction.
What transpired between Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri during the Abu Dhabi GP practice session?
The 2023 Formula 1 season approached its final round, and naturally, every driver and team aimed to conclude on a positive note. Reflecting this ambition Sainz came dangerously close to an incident with Piastri during the first Abu Dhabi GP practice session.
Speeding around the track, Piastri found himself in a situation where he had to make sudden maneuvers to avoid the Spanish driver. This occurrence left the young Australian visibly upset, venting his frustration and complaining over the radio. As reported by GP fans Piastri said, “Classic Carlos. Just sitting in the middle of the road. Nothing’s changed, I see.”
However following Piastri’s outrage, his race engineer asked him, “Do you think that was dangerous.” To which the rookie responded, “I mean, yeah. He made no effort to get out of the way.” Interestingly, Sainz’s close encounter with Piastri wasn’t the only incident during the day, as he also had another near-miss with Mercedes.
Upon passing Carlos Sainz during the FP1 Mercedes driver George Russell complained, “That Ferrari is going so slow in the middle of the straight there. Dangerous.” Certainly, Sainz’s weekend didn’t turn out to be one to remember, as it went from bad to worse in the subsequent practice session. After the disappointments of FP1, FP2 witnessed the Ferrari driver colliding with the barrier, prompting the Red Flag to be brought out.
