Fernando Alonso says he cleared the air with Carlos Sainz in during national anthem of F1 Azerbaijan GP after their sprint tussle.
After a safety car re-start, Ferrari’s Sainz pounced on Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at Turn 1 and getting the tow from both these cars, Aston Martin’s Alonso chanced a pass on his countryman but he swayed to his left to stop him from passing.
In that quick moment, it was close to the wall for Alonso but no investigation was done with the Aston Martin driver not pleased by the lack of policing and consistency after the sprint. Sainz finished fifth ahead of his compatriot in a tight contest.
“I think I passed Alex and Lewis into Turn 1, but Carlos put me into the wall at the entry of Turn 2 so I had to lift off,” said Alonso after the sprint. “If I didn’t lift off, we would have both crashed. So I hope that the FIA will look at this now and maybe a Top 5 is still possible. I think the rules are clear.
“If you are side-by-side, you cannot go to the side where that car is and squeezing into the wall until they lift off. We don’t need anything, we just need to police it properly,” summed up Alonso, who finished ahead of Sainz in the main race after passing him cleanly on Sunday with much better pace at his disposal.
When asked about the moment from Saturday, Alonso stated that they cleared the air during the Baku national anthem. The Spaniard looked back at the video and realised it wasn’t a huge issue and it didn’t require any penaltly.
“Yeah, we talked in the national anthem, and it’s all good,” said Alonso to media. “Sometimes it happens like this. If you look at the video it’s less of a problem than what I thought yesterday, so it’s all fine.”
Sainz, meanwhile, was fine as it is on Saturday as well on Sunday when Alonso passed him in a bold move. “I don’t complain about the move,” he said. “I think he did after sprint. It’s racing and I find it fair. He would have finished ahead anyway.”
Here’s the moment between the two after 2m: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0ViX9RpVJo
Here’s George Russell not happy with Lance Stroll
Here’s Fernando Alonso on passing Carlos Sainz but not Charles Leclerc