The 2022 Monaco Grand Prix was a fantastic race for the Red Bulls, but also not a bad one for a certain Carlos Sainz. It was a day where, perhaps cliched that it may sound, there was a bit of agony and ecstasy for two of Formula 1’s archivals at this time.
While the Bulls tasted ecstasy, Sergio Perez, in particular, by taking home a first-ever win at the iconic Monaco Grand Prix, having first raced at the venue back in 2011, it was a day to forget for Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who was on the wrong and for little fault of his own.
Carlos Sainz’ is not the happiest despite his P2
The bungled up Ferrari strategy that none saw coming, lap 21, was the act that dethroned the man we thought could rule the salubrious streets of the venue like a true prince. After all, it was a long time coming- wasn’t it?
A P4, in the end, is as far as Leclerc got. But, the only man who kept Ferrari in the hunt until the very end was Carlos Sainz Jr., courtesy a fighting second. He was, for several laps together, right on the heels of the Red Bull of Perez, having reduced the gap between himself and the Mexican in the closing stages to six-tenths of a second.
Though, it would be a fool’s errand to think that all was fine and dandy for the determined Spanish driver; on Saturday, by self admission, Carlos Sainz exclaimed that he had lost the count of the sheer number of times that he had been fined for impeding during the qualifying session.
And the very thing that perhaps explains why he is fraught with the sport is the sheer lack of clarity that Sainz feels there exists where it comes to the laws pertaining to impeding another on the grid.
Duplicity in F1’s impeding the other driver rule at Monaco?
He did hold up Lance Stroll of Aston Martin at the end of a lap on Saturday, an act for which he duly accepted the blame only to apologise to the Canadian. But he also rued the fact that there’s not been parity so far where it comes to catching the others on the grid for a similar breach or offence.
Interestingly, one of the most dramatic pieces of development and perhaps just as telling was the fact that Williams’ Alex Albon was found guilty and yet not really penalized of holding up several other drivers in the Grand Prix, a clear victim of his doing being Sainz’ teammate- Charles Leclerc.
The Thai-British driver ended up holding the Monegasque for nearly a full lap after having pitted for the slicks before going straight at Ste Devote.
To Carlos Sainz- and perhaps understandably so- the very fact that the Williams driver wasn’t penalized whilst he himself was came as a surprise.
Which is why the 27-year-old has asked the sport to offer more clarity on the rules pertaining to impeding another F1 driver on the track.
The following is what Carlos Sainz had to say on his recent Monaco experience:
I cannot count the times that I got impeded in Monaco this weekend, both being dangerous and not dangerous,” Sainz said.
“What I don’t understand is why we got fined 25,000 euros as a team for an impeding which I did.
Meanwhile, that being said, the following is what Mattia Binotto of Ferrari had to say:
“We know that the traffic situation in Monaco is always very difficult. We did our best, we believe that the impeding he made was certainly not dangerous.We’re not too happy about the fine, we believe it was not the right choice. We believe that as a team and driver, we did our best in order to avoid it that at the time and not making anything wrong with it.”
