Carlos Sainz reveals Ferrari call to Mercedes for help from Lewis Hamilton

Sainz, Ferrari, Styria — Photo: © LAT Images

Styrian Grand Prix

Sainz reveals Ferrari call to Mercedes for help from Hamilton

Sainz finished sixth and felt it was his best performance yet in red

Ian Parkes & Will Gray

Monday 28 June 2021 17:30

Carlos Sainz has revealed how Ferrari had to call in a favour from Mercedes in a bid to help the Spaniard during the Styrian Grand Prix.

Sainz finished sixth at the Red Bull Ring, producing a performance he has described as his "most complete race" since his move to the Scuderia from McLaren over the winter.

But his efforts were almost ruined after his pit stop when he came out focused on chasing down the McLaren of Lando Norris, who eventually finished fifth as best of the rest behind the Red Bull and Mercedes cars.

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As the Spaniard emerged from the pits he was lapped by Hamilton, but once his tyres were up to temperature he was more than a match for the Mercedes, prompting an intervention from Ferrari.

Sainz explained: “It was a very strange scenario because I came out of the pits on a very fresh hard [tyre] really looking forward to chasing Lando because we clearly had the pace to go and catch him.

“Unfortunately in the out lap, I had to let Lewis past because I got blue flags while I was getting the tyre up to temperature. From then on I expected Lewis to pull over but for some reason [he didn’t].

“Maybe Mercedes were struggling a bit with tyres. I was quite a bit quicker than him, but I also didn’t want to do anything stupid. I know he’s fighting for the championship, he’s in P2 in the race, and I didn’t want to compromise his race.

“But at the same time, I was getting a bit impatient because I could see that we were not catching Lando and that he was not going to lap Lando.

“At some point, together with my team, we found a way to transmit to Mercedes that it would be very nice of them if they could let us by and I got within DRS and then they let us by and I could start chasing Lando again.

“Those 15 laps behind Lewis, killing the front tyres, trying to get within DRS, were not ideal and probably compromised the rest of the race, but sometimes you get these kinds of situations.”

Sainz hails "amazing" Ferrari

Just a week after Ferrari emerged from the French Grand Prix baffled by its display as both Sainz and Charles Leclerc slipped out of the top 10 due to tyre issues, the duo were back up to speed in Styria.

Sainz had started 12th but worked his way through the field thanks to a decision to run long on the medium tyres, making them last 41 laps before making his first stop of the race.

Leclerc, meanwhile, rose to seventh following a lap-one collision with AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly that dropped him to 18th after a front-wing change.

Assessing his own race, Sainz said: “I just needed to make sure that I kept the tyres healthy for when I got clean air, but to be honest what I am most happy about is the pace once the clean air appeared.

“We managed to go down one second on lap time, we managed to start lapping at a very competitive pace, even more competitive than the McLaren and very close to the leaders.

“The car was amazing and it has probably been my most complete race since I am in Ferrari, just the whole pace management, tyre management, pace, overall, it’s been one of the best. Quite proud about that one.”