F1: Sainz Thankful To Hamilton For Allowing Unlap

Sainz was stuck behind Hamilton for more than 10 laps which ruined his chances for a shot at P5.

By Sahil Gupta

1 mins read

Published on June 29, 2021

Highlights

Sainz had a great race but things could've been better for the Spaniard
He jumped from P12 to P6, but could've even potentially finished P5
But after pitstop he found Hamilton behind him and was stuck behind

Carlos Sainz drove a masterful race jumping from a poor P12 in qualification to P6 by the time the race ended. But the Ferrari was so good at managing its tyres and pace, that it was matching Red Bull at times. This was proven by the fact that Charles Leclerc was able to storm back to P7 after dropping to P19 at the end of the first lap because of his crash with Pierre Gasly. For Sainz, this was a double-edged sword as something very strange happened. Sainz caught up to Lewis Hamilton who was struggling in P2. Thanks to the more powerful Mercedes engine while Sainz caught up to the defending world champion, he was still unable to unlap himself because of the inherent Mercedes power advantage and the narrow track. The 7-time world champion had no answers to the staggering pace of the Red Bull "I came out of the pits on the hard tyres and was really looking forward to going to catch Lando because we had the pace. Unfortunately, I had to let Lewis by because I got blue flags while I was getting the hards up to temperature, and from there on I expected Lewis to pull away. But for some reason, Mercedes were struggling a bit with tyres and I was quite a bit quicker than him. I also didn't want to do anything stupid as I know he's fighting for the championship and he's in P2 in that race," claimed the Spaniard. "I hesitated for five or ten laps whether I should follow him and try to catch Lando. Then I noticed that Lewis was having problems with the tyres and I was significantly faster. I then had to go back a lap, but it was already too late to catch Lando," revealed Sainz explaining how he could've potentially caught up with his former teammate had it not been for his encounter with Hamilton. Then he revealed that he asked his team to talk to Mercedes to let radio Hamilton let him through. "Can you now talk to Mercedes and tell them I will pull away, please? You can try to unlap yourself," said over the radio. When he eventually passed Hamilton, "I owe Lewis one, thank you guys," he said, though by then his chances of catching Norris were destroyed.