Sainz balks at Hamilton, thinks second place would have been possible

According to Carlos Sainz, his duel with Lewis Hamilton at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ruined his race. Speaking to Viaplay after the race, the Ferrari driver said the duel forced him into a different strategy that ultimately prevented him from fighting at the top.

Hamilton's retirement meant Sainz still narrowly managed to grab fifth place in the championship. For a while it looked like the battle for that position would be fought out on track when Hamilton and Sainz dueled on the first lap. Hamilton ended up alongside the track during that duel, cut a corner and finished ahead of Sainz again but was soon ordered by the team to cede the spot to Sainz. Looking back on that incident, Sainz was unhappy with the way Hamilton handled it. " He gave the position back a bit sneakily," the Ferrari driver said. "He did it in such a way to then get DRS and pass me easily. And from there on I had to use the tyre to pass him again. Obviously this compromised my race and my strategy because from there on I had to be on a two-stop and I used a lot of the tyre."

Sainz was also asked about how he would have viewed the race ahead if he had been able to follow the strategy planned beforehand. The Spaniard expects he would then have been able to race for second place with Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. " But that is sometimes unfortunately how it goes," Sainz put things into perspective. "I had a problem in the clutch all weekend that cost me at the start and we will try and improve this for next year. But we had strong pace, strong racecraft, so I’m gonna keep the positives."