“We want more clarity and more consistency” : Carlos Sainz left enraged over five-figure fine by the FIA over blue-flag controversy in the Monaco GP
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2022 Monaco Grand Prix
Following the recent blue-flag dispute at the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has called on the FIA for increased stability and understanding. The Spaniard was held liable of obstructing Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll during practise in the principality, and his Ferrari team was fined €25,000 for offering “grossly inaccurate” data to its driver over the team radio.
During the race, however, Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc were both hampered by Williams drivers Nicholas Latifi and Alex Albon during the pit-stop timeframe which saw Red Bull’s Sergio Perez jump from third to first. In response to the team’s fine, Sainz stated, “I cannot count the times I was impeded in Monaco, both dangerous and not dangerous.”
“What I don’t understand is why we got fined €25,000 as a team for an impeding, which I did and I accept the blame and I apologised to Lance. But I don’t understand why the other occasions are not investigated and other people are not fined for exactly the same thing,” added the Spaniard.
Carlos Sainz impeding Lance Stroll was deemed as ‘dangerous’ by the stewards
Team principal Mattia Binotto sat beside Sainz and added: “If you see in the race, solid blue flags to Albon or Latifi and no further action.” To that Sainz responded, “Because they are both the same… the race and no further action but it was proper impeding. So we want more clarity and more consistency, clear as that.”
When deciding Ferrari’s fine, the race stewards branded Sainz’s obstructing instance with Stroll as risky. However, Binotto questioned the decision’s equality, saying, “We know the traffic situation in Monaco is always very difficult and that radio communication is critical and not obvious.”
Binotto continued to back his driver and harped on the fact that they did the best and that they definitely do not deem the impeding as dangerous and are quite unhappy about the fine imposed on them by the FIA.
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Rishika Saha
(445 Articles Published)