Carlos Sainz has denied that he ignored a pre-race arrangement to not pass Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc during the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix last weekend.
Leclerc was enraged when Sainz overtook him into Turn 1 on the third lap to go against what he believed was an agreement to maintain positions in the opening stint.
The Monegasque explained post-race that a talk between the drivers and the team concluded with the decision that the two would manage their tyres at certain turns.
But Sainz capitalised on his team-mate circulating at a slower speed to execute a move into the first corner which saw the pair touch and Leclerc incur minor damage.
Leclerc regained the spot on Sainz through a team order, but he rued the earlier time loss as he wound up four-tenths from edging Mercedes’ George Russell to fourth.
One week on, Sainz has remained adamant there was no such plan in place and pointed to how he conformed to the latter order to prove he had not been disobedient.
Asked in Austria earlier this week whether Leclerc’s revelation that there was an agreement prior to the race was true, Sainz responded: “I’m not going to comment.
“If I obviously did the move it’s because I believe that wasn’t agreed. If there would have been a team order, I’d be the first one – and you saw it in the race that there was a team order to let him by, and immediately I let him by. So when there’s a team order, I follow it. I’ve always been the same and I’ve been super pragmatic and super obedient with this team.
“In my four years here, I’ve followed every single team order that has been given to me.
“If I went for a move obviously it’s because I believed and I knew there was no team order to hold position, and then we can sit and discuss whether it was the right move or whatever.”
Leclerc was also incensed with Sainz’s actions during their tussle in the China Sprint earlier this season, but he’s since denied their relationship has now deteriorated.
Meanwhile, the Spaniard has argued that occasional clashes are unavoidable across a season when the two are situated on similar parts of the track each weekend.
“I think with Charles it’s obviously not the first ding dong and it will not be the last, because I think we always have one or two ding dongs per year, because it’s completely normal and completely natural when you have two drivers that are sharing the same piece of asphalt for 24 races,” Sainz explained.
“We’re always starting P1 and P2, P2 and P1, P4 and P5, P5 and P6.
There’s starts, there’s strategy, there’s overtakings, and with two competitive guys like him and me that luckily for the team are sharing the same piece of asphalt every race, there’s always going to be little ding dongs. And these little ding dongs are always going to be there.
“You obviously want to keep them to the minimum and the important thing is that after four years with Charles the relationship has always been good.
“We’ve always solved these little ding dongs by ourselves without the help of team principals, always discussing them amongst each other.
“Sometimes I would like to keep them out of the media because it doesn’t help any of us, and this is probably the biggest mistake. But apart from that, we are doing the best we can.”
