“Piastri kicked me off the track and Checo too,” said the Madrid native, who fell from 4th to 5th after a penalty for his contact with the Australian.
More wood for those who think that nationality influences the decisions of the commissioners. Carlos Sainz received a five-second penalty for touching Piastri in the final third of the race. Moments before, the Australian had taken him off the track in his firm defense for fourth place, but the FIA did not see any irregularities. In the first corner it had been Checo who had forced him to get up to avoid a certain accident. But in another classic racing incident, Sainz is punished and also receives a penalty point. The touch was light, under heavy braking, although Piastri had to change the spoiler.
“People were being very aggressive, and with the car I had this weekend I couldn’t overtake in any other way than braking. Checo kicked me off the track, Oscar too. We had to be aggressive because they weren’t penalizing much. I have passed him, there has been contact but as there has almost been with Checo. “I would be very surprised if they penalized me for that,” he explained.
Carlos after the race. The strategy didn’t help either. He was riding in front of Norris when he stopped to change tires on lap 28. On lap 29 the safety car came out, Lando made his pit-stop and from there to the victory. The man from Madrid recognizes the anger in AS: “A lot of anger, we would have risked the victory with Lando if we had been left out. Maybe he was going a little faster, but if you stayed ahead he would have had a hard time passing. “There was one lap left to win this race.”
“I had a very good pace, but the start cost us two positions with Checo Pérez (the Mexican launched himself on the inside without control and forced Carlos to get up to avoid an accident, Piastri and Leclerc passed him). In the battle with Oscar we lost a lot of time, I don’t know why it was so difficult for us to overtake with our car this weekend. It is a race of missed opportunities, but with very good pace. From where we were on Friday to where we were on Sunday is something to be happy about,” the Spaniard tells this media in Miami. Would it have been better to stop later? “In hindsight, yes. Because we would have won. If there is no safety car, Lando stops when I have done it and overtakes you, you are fifth.”
“It makes me angry, because this weekend it was very difficult to overtake. Acceleration was complicated. It’s a little frustrating, because I had better pace for the position I had. The positive thing is that we improved a lot during the weekend and that I went really well in the race,” summarizes Sainz. For the Emilia Romagna GP in Ímola, improvements are expected from Ferrari. Necessary, given the capacity of the McLaren at the Hard Rock Stadium.
