Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz had a tough time in an intense fight in the Sprint race of the Chinese GP, which ended with the two Spaniards injured, and with Max Verstappen winning again.
The Asturian and the Madrid native, friends off the track, have had their ups and downs, with a touch included, when they battled for third position. They touched shoulder to shoulder, Alonso had to retire due to damage to his Aston Martin, in addition to being penalized for causing the collision, and Sainz lost two positions to finish fifth, surpassed by Sergio Pérez and Charles Leclerc.
The incident between the two Spaniards came on lap 16 of the 19 of the short race of the Chinese GP. Verstappen was already leading (who had come back from 6th place), with Hamilton behind, while Alonso was third, defending the podium from the harassment of Sainz, who arrived plugged in.
On that 16th lap, the two Spaniards began to battle at the limit from turn 5 to turn 9, where they had a lateral contact. The Asturian accused the Madrid native of not having opened at turn 9, and the Ferrari driver regretted that Alonso had made “an optimistic move” that cost them both the race.
The incident left both of them injured: Alonso and Sainz lost both positions, the Asturian had to stop in the garage due to a puncture from the touch and ended up abandoning, while Sainz was left without a podium. In that fighting action, Sergio Pérez slipped past both of them and took third position in the short race.
Alonso’s explanation did not convince the commissioners, who would end up sanctioning him. “We did turn 7 at par and then, on turn 8, I tried to go on the outside, then he opened the line to not leave me room, so on turn 9, I did the same, go on the inside to not leave him room, but In the 8th I opened up so as not to touch each other and he didn’t in the 9th and we touched each other and as I say, in the end, I got the worst of it and I ended up leaving,” Alonso explained in Dazn.
Sainz’s reply left no doubt: “I don’t think anyone is happy here. I saved the tire behind Fernando and I was able to pass him well. Then, I think he made a somewhat optimistic move to give it back to me, which in the end gave him ended up costing me and the race, because I had damage and I went backwards,” the man from Madrid told Dazn.
After the incident, Sainz had another tough fight with his teammate Charles Leclerc, in which the Madrid native lost fourth position. The Monegasque complained about the tough opposition that Carlos put up. “Sainz is fighting more with me than with the others,” his neighbor complained.
“He has gone a little to the limit. He is intelligent and will understand that he has been too aggressive,” commented the Monegasque when getting out of the car.
After the race, the FIA ??decided to sanction Alonso with 10 seconds applied to his Sprint time “for causing a collision with car 55 (Sainz)”, with the consequence of “damaging car 55” and “suffering a puncture” ( Alonso) before abandoning. But since he had abandoned, the punishment has no effect on him. The 3 points removed from his Super License do affect him, since he keeps 6 of the 12 with which each pilot starts.
