Carlos Sainz endured a miserable weekend at the British Grand Prix, as a poor strategy by Ferrari resulted in the Spaniard finishing 10th at the Silverstone International Circuit.
Sainz finished 10th despite having started the race in fifth, highlighting just how far he fell backwards.
It wasn’t entirely his fault though, as a late Safety Car allowed several drivers to complete their first pit-stop, something Sainz did ahead of the Safety Car being summoned.
This lost the Spaniard several places; however, his pace wasn’t good enough for a top five finish regardless.
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Sainz had entered the pits in fifth, although he was under increasing pressure from Lewis Hamilton.
Being on the Hard compound in the closing stages ultimately saw the Spanish driver fail to battle with drivers ahead of him, something which saw him lose out to the likes of Williams’ Alex Albon.
The British GP was an overall frustrating few days for Sainz, who also came under scrutiny in qualifying.
Q1 was an exhilarating session to watch, as the track suddenly ramped up in the closing minutes.
It meant every driver needed to improve on their final push lap, including Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
The two Ferrari drivers were towards the back of the queue, with Leclerc having been ahead of Sainz after Ferrari asked the duo to swap positions in the pit-lane.
However, as they prepared to start their final lap, Sainz opted to overtake Leclerc, much to the Monegasque’s frustration.
“Nice, Carlos. Nice. Good overtake in the last corner,” Leclerc sarcastically said over the team radio.
Leclerc tried to downplay the incident after qualifying; however, he did admit that it was “not ideal”.
“Carlos decided to overtake, which is not ideal and we will discuss it. But still, this action had no influence on qualifying and it’s not a problem,” Leclerc said after qualifying.
“Of course, I understand that with the adrenaline in the car you don’t know if you’re going to make it, but his radio team was totally useless.”
Sainz revealed that he overtook Leclerc due to believing that he was going to run out of time, when actually all his overtake did was put his team-mate under pressure to beat the clock.
Considering that his contract is set to expire at the end of 2024, it certainly isn’t the sort of move Sainz should be attempting often, given that it somewhat disobeyed team orders.
Sainz has actually enjoyed a better season than Leclerc on the whole, with him sitting nine points ahead of his Ferrari counterpart in the Drivers’ Championship.
Despite this, it’s the Spaniard who’s been linked to a move elsewhere.
The Daily Mail reported recently that Ferrari were considering a move for Hamilton, to replace Sainz.
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Sainz has also been linked with a switch to Audi, further suggesting that his future perhaps isn’t at Maranello.
Should Sainz want to be rewarded with a contract extension then he’ll likely need to avoid diving down the inside of his team-mate in qualifying going forwards, especially with the Italians being in the difficult position they currently find themselves in.
Whether Ferrari should replace him for 2025 or not is likely a question which will be asked more over the next 12 months or so, a period when Sainz needs to be performing at his very best.