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Carlos Sainz has apologized to Charles Leclerc for pushing him off track during the F1 Chinese GP sprint. The first sprint of the season saw the two Ferrari drivers battling for position, with the Spaniard pushing his teammate off the track at the hairpin. The short race saw Sainz battling for a position at the podium with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin.
The duo were closely followed by Sergio Perez in P5 and Leclerc in P6. When Carlos Sainz was finally able to pull off a move on Alonso, the ensuing defense saw the Spaniard being compromised and was hence forced to defend against his teammate on the long straight. Sainz took the inside line while defending but pushed Charles off track, coming out of the hairpin.
While the move did not have lasting repercussions as Charles Leclerc would swiftly dispatch Carlos Sainz in the next few sequences of corners, the Monagasque driver was furious at his teammate.
Speaking to F1TV, Leclerc said:
"Today, he went a bit over the limit in the contact between us two - being in a different situation because I saved the tyres quite a bit and had a good pace at the end."
Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the race, Sainz apologized if he went over the line.
The Spaniard blamed the battle with Fernando Alonso, saying he had dirty tires.
"Until I got Fernando, I think I had done a really good move in the outside of turn 7. I think from then on, he decided to do all or nothing into me into turn 9, which cost us both the race because I picked up damage and dirt on my tyres as a result of that optimistic move. From there on, I was sliding around with my tyres, dirt on my tyres," Sainz said.
He added:
"I was doing everything I could, and sliding around. I had a bit of a moment with Charles, and I apologize if I did something over the limit, but we were all trying really hard and I was trying my best to keep it all under control on my side."
Carlos Sainz feels he pushed his tires too hard at the beginning of the sprint
Looking back at the sprint, Carlos Sainz felt he pushed his tires too hard at the beginning of the sprint because he was trying to overtake Max Verstappen. When he was unable to do that, he fell back significantly and was just managing his car and tires. Talking about his sprint, Sainz said (via Planet F1):
"I did a good start, and pushed Max [Verstappen] hard at the beginning, because I knew that if I was passing him that I had a strong chance of winning the race. That probably killed my tyres a bit, and then I was managing my tyres and managing over the rest of the race."
This was the first race this season where Carlos Sainz did not finish on the podium. It is also the first time this year that the Spaniard has finished a race behind his teammate Charles Leclerc. The driver will be looking to put together a better run in qualifying later in the day to place himself in a better position on Sunday.
