
Sainz points out Mercedes 'TRICKS' at Japanese GP
Sainz points out Mercedes 'TRICKS' at Japanese GP

Carlos Sainz has said that he's happy he could get his car ahead of George Russell, despite Mercedes' 'tricks' at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Sainz was praised last weekend for his innovative tactics that helped him to bring home victory at the Singapore GP, when he dropped back to give second-placed Lando Norris DRS so he could defend from the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Russell.
The Spaniard knew that if the Mercedes' were able to get past Norris, he would have been a sitting duck with the pair on much fresher tyres.
Fast forward a week, and it appears Mercedes themselves were using the same tactic against Sainz during the closing stages of the race in Japan.
Having swapped their drivers around, Hamilton stayed just under a second ahead of Russell in order to give his team-mate DRS against Sainz.
It was all in vain, however, as Sainz got past Russell to claim sixth position.
"I think today we had a solid race," he told Ferrari's official X channel.
"Unfortunately, I think P6 hasn't really reflected the strong pace that we had. A pity about that position with Lewis, they tried to play a bit the tricks with the DRS, but in the end I managed to get back P6.
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Ferrari-Mercedes battle

Suzuka was the fourth race in a row in which Ferrari have managed to outscore Mercedes, and they have dragged themselves into a scrap for second place in the constructors' championship.
For both teams, to have the title of 'best of the rest' in a season that has been so massively dominated by Red Bull would be a huge confidence-booster, and Sainz is prepared for the battle ahead.
"I think it was a decent weekend for the team, we've got plenty of points," he continued. "We came back a bit on Mercedes again and we will keep pushing to see if we can keep doing this for the rest of the season."
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F1 Standings

Drivers
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Nyck De Vries
- Liam Lawson
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
-
Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2023
-
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023
-
Grand Prix of Australia 2023
-
Grand Prix of China 2023
-
Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2023
-
Miami Grand Prix 2023
-
Qatar Airways Gran Premio Del Made In Italy E Dell'emilia Romagna 2023
-
Grand Prix of Monaco 2023
-
AWS Gran Premio de España 2023
-
Grand Prix du Canada 2023
-
Grand Prix of Austria 2023
-
Aramco Grand Prix of Great Britain 2023
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Grand Prix of Hungary 2023
-
Grand Prix of Belgium 2023
-
Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2023
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Grand Prix of Italy 2023
-
Grand Prix of Singapore 2023
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Grand Prix of Japan 2023
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Qatar Grand Prix 2023
-
Grand Prix of the United States 2023
-
Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2023
-
Rolex Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2023
-
Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2023
-
Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2023
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