I don’t blame Sainz for being frustrated. Honestly I think he had a more impressive race than Leclerc–staying right on him in the first part of the race, making up lot of the time lost to the team’s two terrible pit stops, and the incredible battle with Perez.
But at the end of the day he was out qualified by Charles, and Ferrari can’t afford to lose out on any points.
I’m not sure Charles would have defended as well as Carlos did had Ferrari let Carlos pass Charles at the start of the race when Carlos’ pace was clearly faster. Also did anyone else notice how much distance Charles gained on Carlos when the virtual safety car came out and Charles didn’t immediately slow down? I felt kinda pissed for Carlos tbh.
I agree, Carlos certainly had the better race pace. If he hadn’t defended so well against Perez I think there’s a good chance Charles would have been under threat.
The gap thing was intentional I believe, to create more space for the double stack, but I could be wrong. That was my assumption at the time.
Given Ferrari’s track record with double stacking, maybe Carlos doesn’t trust them to do it without adding a gap. Seemed like he was making the strategy calls this weekend.