If Sainz did not pass Daniel Ricciardo during the United States Grand Prix, it is because the McLaren driver closed him off causing damage to his car that made it lose competitiveness. “ It was a bit dirty. He has done it on purpose ”, denounced Carlos Sainz by radio after his incident. Ricciardo’s response was immediate.
After the race the Australian spoke of the importance for him to pass Sainz at the beginning. “The first lap was a lot of fun. I managed to overtake Carlos at the start, but then he overtook me with a good movement on the outside . Then I overtook him at Turn 7, on the inside . There were three great position changes in the first lap, which was crucial for me to be able to finish in the top five ”, he admitted on the official Formula 1 website.
On his incident on lap 43, Daniel Ricciardo commented in MotorSport : “ Sainz made a good attack later in the race and we were going side by side . It was a lot of fun, for me it was very necessary to hang on there. You don’t deliberately try to collide with someone, but there is some friction in racing . When you go outside, you are more exposed. Nothing was on purpose, but I suppose that is the risk I was taking when trying it from the outside ”.
Ricciardo justifies his defense
” I made a pretty strong defense , I needed it to hold him back because he would have caught me and even Bottas would have caught me, so a fifth could have become a seventh,” he added.
Ricciardo was also asked about the words Carlos Sainz dedicated to him on the radio: “That’s great. I am glad to be dirty. I’m a nice guy, so being dirty every once in a while is fine ! ”
“It was a bit dirty. He did it on purpose.”
Sparks fly between Carlos Sainz and Ricciardo ⚡⚡ # USADAZNF1 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Y8PiEnjovO
– DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) October 24, 2021
And is that for the Australian, seeing how fast Leclerc was, finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz is a good result for McLaren. “ Charles showed that Ferrari was faster , we couldn’t match that pace. So obviously we have to find more rhythm. But beating one of the Ferraris is quite gratifying, “he said.
With this result, McLaren maintains third place in the Constructors’ World Championship with a 3.5-point advantage over the Italian team. It would not have been like that if Carlos Sainz had passed Daniel Ricciardo . To make matters worse, Valtteri Bottas passed Madrid on the last lap, relegating him to seventh position.
Sainz was hurt more by Ferrari’s mistake
In addition to the touch with Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz took a toll on Ferrari’s mistake at his stop. “ There was an error in the pit-stop . McLaren reacted and recovered, and the bad pit-stop cost us the place with Ricciardo but also with Bottas ”, admitted Mattia Binotto, head of the Italian team. Sainz, for his part, pointed out about the error: “We have not been able to do the undercut. It was practically done with a decent stop: It’s already two or three in a row. But it is what it is ”.
After the United States Grand Prix, the Spaniard also alluded to his incident with Daniel Ricciardo trying to defuse the issue: “Whoever goes on the outside has the upper hand to lose. He has gambled me out, but I do it to others sometimes. It is allowed even if it is a little at the limit of legality ”.
