Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished the Singapore Grand Prix in ninth place just behind teammate Max Verstappen having started 14th and six places behind his younger Toro Rosso colleague.
However, Sainz suffered a technical glitch early in the race where the car went into neutral on the safety car restart and forced the Spaniard him almost to the back of the field. Sainz made some bold overtaking manoeuvres to climb back through the order to ninth place. In the closing laps, Toro Rosso engineers were heard asking Verstappen on the team radio to let Sainz through to attack Perez for seventh but the young Dutchman ignored the order.
After the race, Sainz was asked by Sky Sports F1 about whether he would have let Verstappen back through if he couldn’t pass Perez to which he replied: “No doubt. I would have done it. I’m a fair man; I saw what Red Bull did in Monaco and said look this is the best thing you could ever do, play the team card, let the guy on the newer tyre – which was me – at least try.”
“If I can’t, Max goes through and finishes P8, I finish P9 it’s not a problem. I just wanted that shot, he never gave it to me and that was it”.
Sainz was then questioned by Sky Sports F1 if this was Verstappen trying to show a ruthless streak. Sainz answered: “Ask him. I’ve no idea. We get on very well. This is not an issue on me. When we put our helmets on we are obviously rivals. Sometimes, when you put the helmet on, you also have to think for the team.”
The result leaves Verstappen in 11th place in the Driver’s Championship with 30 points and Sainz in 16th with 11 points, whilst the team are seventh in the Constructor’s Championship just nine points adrift of sixth-placed Lotus.
