The first disagreement of the season between Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz has come when least expected. In Australia, the man from Madrid took the Asturian ‘place’ in the restart and received a harsh sanction that left him without points in Melbourne, going from fourth to twelfth place. Alonso, against all odds, came to his defense and despite the fact that Carlos’ action could have cost him the podium, he did not hesitate to consider “too severe” the penalty. Today, however, Alonso has claimed a sanction for Sainz for having hindered him in Baku, when the podium places were not even at stake.
Fernando, who has come from eighth on the grid to finish sixth in the first sprint race of the season, has surprised in his subsequent statements, suggesting that they should give him fifth place by penalizing Sainz: “The DRS seems to have worked this time after the problems since Friday and that is the word we have used the most this weekend. It has worked twice, I don’t know the last time because I didn’t look in the rear-view mirror, we’ll analyze it tonight. We have scored good points today and it was not easy starting eighth. We will see now if we can be fifth because Carlos took me against the wall in turn two, it was a bit surprising, let’s see if they can do something and we won that position. And for tomorrow we start more advanced, the best news this difficult weekend for us would be a ‘top five’ tomorrow”, he assessed.
Minutes later Carlos Sainz appeared before the DAZN cameras and when they told him about Alonso’s complaints, he defended himself. “I don’t remember what action Alonso is referring to. I think it was while I was defending myself against Hamilton”, commented the man from Madrid, playing the mistake.
“I was doing what I could and I was surprised by Fernando, who has joined the battle. I have tried to do as much width as possible on the track and it’s been a good fight. It is what it is”, Sainz has settled on the incident, which has not been investigated by the commissioners to assess a possible punishment.
Regarding his options for tomorrow, Carlos, who finished fifth today, acknowledged that “I’m suffering a lot this weekend. I am not comfortable in any lap. I’m sure we’ll find out why. But it’s a weekend to limit damage, tomorrow we have to try to have another good race.”