Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari, Circuit of the Americas, 2022

Sainz accepts Russell’s apology for collision but thinks FIA was ‘a bit easy on him’

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr says he appreciated George Russell apologising to him after the Mercedes driver pitched him into a spin in COTA which ultimately lead to him retiring from the United States Grand Prix.

In brief

Sainz accepts Russell’s apology for COTA start clash

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Sainz revealed Russell sought him out after the Sunday’s United States Grand Prix to apologise for their first-corner collision.

“It’s the kind of incident you expect more to see in the midfield, when you have so many cars around you,” said Sainz. “But in the top four, you don’t see that incident happen that often and that’s why I was so frustrated after the race. I obviously accepted George’s apologies, because it was good from him to do it, but there was nothing I could have done on track.”

Russell was given a five-second time penalty from the stewards, who held him responsible for the accident. Sainz said “the FIA maybe was a bit easy on him for for the consequences that happened.”

However, he added, “it always honours the guy that [apologises] straight away after the race and I always respect that. But that doesn’t mean that I’m happy.”

Alfa Romeo’s single lap pace proves upgrades work – Zhou

Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo, Circuit of the Americas, 2022
Alfa Romeo made a “huge step” said Zhou
Zhou Guanyu says Alfa Romeo’s improved single-lap pace in recent rounds shows that their recent upgrades have worked.

The team have only scored one point over the last ten races and Aston Martin have closed to within one point of them in the first for sixth place in the constructors’ championship. But after the team introduced new upgrades at Suzuka, Zhou’s team mate Valtteri Bottas reached Q3 last weekend in Austin, Zhou missing out only due to a late deleted lap time.

“Now finally, we were actually able to reach both cars in Q3, but my lap obviously got deleted,” said Zhou. “I always knew it would be a difficult race and somehow I finished P11 after finishing 13th.”

The team “have to maybe work a little bit more on the race pace,” he believes. “What was quite clear is that on one-lap performance we made a huge step up compared to the last few races, so clearly the upgrade package is working.”

Magnussen would have “no problem” racing alongside Hulkenberg

Kevin Magnussen says there would be “no problem” racing alongside Nico Hulkenberg, who he infamously fell out with after clashing in the media pen after the 2017 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Despite their argument, Magnussen insists the 35-year-old would be welcome alongside him in the team, even if he believes that Mick Schumacher has improved in his second year in the team. “I think I’ve said many times that I don’t have a problem with Nico at all,” said Magnussen.

“I respect him as a racing driver, I always respected him. I don’t have an opinion on whether or not he should be insider the car. Certainly I’d say Mick is doing a good job at the moment. We had some issues in the beginning of this year – a few crashes – but he’s certainly faster right now.”

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Comment of the day

Should the FIA continue with its superlicence qualification system intended to limit who is eligible to race in Formula 1? BradD thinks not…

It’s not the role of the sanctioning body to screen out all who aren’t generational talents – by definition, there cannot be an entire grid filled with those. The sanctioning body’s screening interest should be in keeping out drivers who are dangerously slow or inexperienced, or who have done something sufficiently bad to get on a ‘naughty list’. Beyond that, they’re overstepping their bounds when they tell a team that they cannot hire a particular driver.

A competition should let poor decisions by competitors (e.g., hiring a lousy driver) be their own punishment unless there’s a safety concern.
Brad D

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to D Winn, Nixon, Vinicius Antunes, Zahir, Doance, Eggry, Dimaka1256 and Roger Camp!

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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7 comments on “Sainz accepts Russell’s apology for collision but thinks FIA was ‘a bit easy on him’”

  1. Profile Photo

    wsrgo (@wsrgo)
    28th October 2022, 3:31

    Carlos, you would have been better served to stick around the outside, let the car run wide and cut Russell off from sweeping around Turn 2. Instead you treated a lap 1 situation like any other lap, where a cut back doesn’t make you a blockade to the rest of the pack.

    Expected more from the guy commentary keeps harping on about as a canny racer and a smooth operator.

  2. M
    28th October 2022, 7:09

    “… but there was nothing I could have done on track.”

    There was.

    It was a foolish move to turn in on the pack and to go where whoever had start 4th would be.

    “It’s the kind of incident you expect more to see in the midfield”

    And who would blame Ferrari for sending him there and replacing him with someone with better judgement.

    1. Profile Photo

      Steve Rogers (@beeflin)
      28th October 2022, 20:03

      That’s what I saw. George was minding his own business and Carlos saw a chance but didn’t see George. I would have penalised either Sainz or nobody.

  3. jff
    28th October 2022, 8:49

    I disagree with CotD (or actually I agree with many parts, but that is exactly what FIA is already doing).
    – Eligibility rules are always the responsibility of the organisers (sanctioning body);
    – FIA never claimed the eligibility rules were intended to only allow ‘generational talents’;
    – CotD states that FIA should be “keeping out drivers who are dangerously slow or inexperienced”. The only way to assess this is by reviewing their performance in other/similar competitions (which FIA is doing);

    A competition should let poor decisions by competitors (e.g., hiring a lousy driver) be their own punishment unless there’s a safety concern.

    That’s exactly what they do! They defined objective measures (you may disagree with those) to weed out those who could be a ‘safety concern’ due to insufficient ‘experience’ or being ‘slower’ than their peers (but rich enough to make it anyway).

    I also disagree with the details of the superlicense points system; but that is common when you set up such a detailed system.
    But I cannot come up with a better alternative unless either dropping it (and accept more ‘pay drivers’) or set up a more formal ‘qualifying school’ (get X F1 cars and let the talents race each other).

    1. Profile Photo

      PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
      28th October 2022, 14:58

      Russel definitely got off lightly with the 5 secs penalty. He took Carlos out.

  4. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    28th October 2022, 11:23

    I couldn’t agree more with Keith’s tweet & I also agree with COTD.

  5. Profile Photo

    Jim from US (@jimfromus)
    28th October 2022, 15:05

    Dear Carlos,
    Cars will be 2 wide and sometimes 3 wide at turn 1 at the start of a race. Also when the lights go off, you need to step on the accelerator.

Comments are closed.