Sainz alleges deliberate F1 crashes on the rise

Carlos Sainz has astonishingly accused his F1 rivals of deliberately crashing more than is realised after suggestions of cheating were aired against Sergio Perez this week.

The Ferrari driver has alleged that drivers have intentionally caused red and yellow flags more often than is picked up in the media.

The topic has been brought into sharp focus after it was rumoured that Max Verstappen's decision to ignore team orders at Interlagos was spurred by a belief that Perez had intentionally crashed during Q3 in Monaco.

“Without commenting if it was on purpose or not, I think it is real now that all drivers want a rule that if you generate a red flag or a yellow flag, whether it is intentional or not, there should be something done to that driver because you have compromised the other nine on purpose or maybe not," said Sainz.

“But you should get a penalty for it. If not, we are all going to start playing with it.

READ MORE...Perez responds to Verstappen grievance rumours

"I have seen over the last few years a lot more playing around with it than what you might even have picked out in the media.”

Asked to elaborate, Sainz added: “I’m not going to comment whether it [Perez's crash in Monaco] was on purpose or not.

"I think all 20 drivers, when we analyse these kinds of incidents, we know immediately if the driver has done it on purpose or not because we are not stupid."

Despite hinting at wider spread cheating within the sport, Sainz commented this "is not regular" and refused to publicly be drawn into dishing the dirt on who he believes are the worst offenders.

Asked to point out some instances of deliberately disrupting sessions, Sainz joked: “Without a microphone? I can go for drinks and dinner with you guys and without a microphone I can tell you.”

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 News Today: Verstappen vs Red Bull at 'boiling point' as Horner reveals return terms

• 7 minutes ago

Jeremy Clarkson tells Brits they've got Max Verstappen all wrong

• Yesterday 23:14

Hamilton vs Verstappen Silverstone incident just 'set a new F1 precedent'

• Yesterday 22:29

Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, silly season rumours and F1 reality

• Yesterday 21:42

Fixing Aston Martin: F1 insider's theory on what went wrong and how Newey will put it right

• Yesterday 20:58

FIA verdict reveals awkward Abu Dhabi 2021 truth

• Yesterday 19:44