Carlos Sainz Jnr has accused Lewis Hamilton of “difficult” driving when he was told to give way to the Ferrari driver during their clash on the opening lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The FIA told Mercedes that Hamilton should drop fourth place to Sainz after cutting the turn six chicane and staying ahead of Ferrari on lap one. Hamilton pulled back well on laps 10 and 11, allowing his rival to pass.
However, Hamilton overtook the Ferrari again on the next lap as they approached turn nine. Sainz Hamilton deliberately chose to leave the position, which allows him to pass Ferrari again in the next DRS zone.
“Lewis let me jump the chicane, but the cheek somehow let me through and then he took DRS and passed me again,” Sainz said.
The Ferrari driver later passed Hamilton again, but said he had taken too much life out of the tires and in doing so had ruined his race strategy.
“I had to use a lot of my tires to get him back, which cost me a lot of lap time, a lot of tire use,” Sainz said. “That probably forced me into a two-stop a bit and then I was in a slow two-stop and I couldn’t be in the fight for P2 today.
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But Sainz has admitted in the past that he has taken advantage of the ambiguity in how drivers give up space to rivals on the track.
“I’ve used that rule or that lack of clarity before, you know, so I don’t want to criticize Lewis for that because I would have done the same thing,” said the Ferrari driver. “It’s just like that.
“They took the first position with a great move on the inside for six laps, the driver decided to cut the chicane and your race is ruined after that because you know you’re fighting a car that you should probably be ahead of. From lap one. But that’s what happens.
Despite his frustration, Sainz said we should be happy with yesterday’s result. “In the end we got second in the builders, second in the Charles Championship [Leclerc] Which is the main target of this competition,” he said.
“Overall a good pace, a good weekend in terms of pace, about the first tragedy,” he added.
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2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
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