‘You’re talking too much’: Frustrated Sainz was ‘one lap from winning’ in Miami

Carlos Sainz Jnr unsuccessfully called for Sergio Perez and Oscar Piastri to receive penalties during the Miami Grand prix – but did collect one himself.

It was a frustrating afternoon for him, as he felt he came within a lap of winning the race, and had to remind his engineer not to talk too much on the radio.

Here’s how the Miami Grand Prix unfolded from his perspective.

Carlos Sainz Jnr’s Miami Grand Prix radio

Jump to:

L1: “It should be a penalty”
L13: “Are we going to try something?”
L24: “It was stupid”
L26: “Don’t leave it too close with Lando”
L29: “Guess Lando is going to lead the race, no?”
L35: “He needs to be intelligent”
L40: “Check the car I touched the wall”
L50: “You’re talking too much”
L56: “I have a five-second penalty or what?”
L57: “One more lap and we would have won”

“It should be a penalty”

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Sainz launched away from third place superbly, immediately overtaking his second-placed team mate Charles Leclerc and tucking in behind Max Verstappen

Then Sergio Perez came flying down the inside, forcing Sainz to move wide. Leclerc retook the position through turn one and left little room for his team mate at the exit, allowing Oscar Piastri to demote Sainz another place. He was not impressed.

The stewards reviewed the start and decided not to penalise Perez, who braked so late for the first corner he went off on the outside.

“Are we going to try something?”

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Piastri swiftly passed Leclerc for second and the two Ferraris queued up behind the McLaren. At first Sainz appeared to suggest Ferrari swap the running order of their cars, but once it became clear that wasn’t going to happen, he decided to look after his tyres and run a longer first stint.

The complexion of the race began to change when Verstappen went off at turn 14 and wiped out a bollard, causing a Virtual Safety Car period. Ferrari told Sainz to take advantage of the opportunity to pit while the Racing speed was reduced if he could, but the VSC period ended before he reached the pits, so he stayed out.

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“It was stupid”

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Sainz was not impressed by how slow he had to drive during the VSC period.

“Don’t leave it too close with Lando”

By lap 26 Sainz was running second behind Piastri. Verstappen and Leclerc had pitted, the latter eight laps earlier. But while Sainz potentially stood to benefit by pitting later than those rivals, he was concerned about the growing threat from Lando Norris behind.

The pair were separated by 4.9 seconds on lap 17, when Perez’s pit stop gave Norris free air and allowed him to start catching the Ferrari. Soon Norris was close enough to threaten Sainz with an early ‘undercut’ pit stop.

Once he got within two seconds, Ferrari made their move. But the timing proved unfortunate for Sainz.

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“Guess Lando is going to lead the race, no?”

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On his first lap out of the pits, the Safety Car was deployed. Sainz immediately knew this would allow Norris to make his pit stop while the field had slowed, and jump ahead of him and Piastri who had come in on the same lap.

Making matters worse for Sainz, the Safety Car joined the track shortly after Norris, who therefore gained even more time and jumped into the lead.

“He needs to be intelligent”

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Sainz took the restart fifth behind Norris, Verstappen, Leclerc and Piastri, all on hard compound tyres. Perez, immediately behind him in sixth, had used the Safety Car to make a second pit stop and switch back to the medium compound.

He tried to pass Piastri on the outside approaching turn 11, but that the exit of the corner the McLaren driver was ahead and took full advantage of his right to leave Sainz no space. Again Sainz called for a penalty, but again the stewards ruled ‘no foul’.

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“Check the car, I touched the wall”

Sainz finally put a move on Piastri at the end of lap 39, but the car got away from him momentarily as he braked for turn 16. The pair made contact, damaging Piastri’s front wing and sending him into the pits.

Meanwhile Sainz asked the team to check his car – twice. First for the Piastri collision and again after he touched a barrier.

“You’re talking too much”

Satisfied all was well with his car, Sainz pressed on after Leclerc, whose tyres were eight laps older than his. Race engineer Ricardo Adami kept him abreast of the gaps and potential areas to improve, but eventually Sainz found the feedback was starting to get a bit much.

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“I have a five-second penalty or what?”

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Sainz made sure to acknowledge Adami’s next piece of driving advice. But he was also concerned what the stewards thought of his tangle with Piastri.

Fearing Sainz might receive a five-second time penalty, Ferrari advised him to build up as much of a gap as he could over Perez and Lewis Hamilton behind.

“One more lap and we would have won”

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Sainz crossed the line fourth, 3.2 seconds ahead of Perez and 5.1 ahead of Hamilton. The stewards later issued a five-second time penalty for his collision with Piastri, which left him fifth in the final standings.

But he was more disappointed by the timing of the Safety Car which he felt potentially cost him victory – and Perez’s wild move at the start which meant he ended the opening lap fourth instead of second.

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