Carlos Sainz was caught up in controversy during the Las Vegas Grand Prix when he appeared to ignore team orders to not attack teammate Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari had told Sainz to hold position behind Leclerc after they made their final pit stops, but the Spaniard seemingly decided to pass him anyway after being told to stay out for an extra lap because his mechanics were not ready in the pit box.
Leclerc was later left fuming in an expletive-ridden rant after the race to his engineer Bryan Bozzi, in which he blamed himself for being too nice and was highly critical of the team’s decisions.
Sainz also managed to escape a penalty for crossing the white line at pit entry, having not contravened the rules laid out in the International Sporting Code because he did not enter the pit lane itself.
Discussing the move on the Formula for Success podcast, former F1 team boss Eddie Jordan felt Sainz should have earned a penalty for his actions.
Eddie Jordan fumes at FIA stewards for not penalising Carlos Sainz in Las Vegas GP
Sainz, who is currently paid £9.6m-a-year by Ferrari according to Sportrac, drew some attention as he appeared to commit to entering the pit lane, before bailing out and rejoining the track when the team told him they were not ready.
Jordan felt the move was erratic and could have resulted in a high-speed crash if another car was on the right-hand side of Sainz.
“If any one of those cars on leaving the pit lane had gone over the exit line, they would have got a 10-second penalty. Where is the transparency and fairness? It was completely wrong,” said Jordan.
“The regular sporting stewards and it was the first race for the new race director and we saw fewer penalties, so maybe that’s a positive. However, you need to have consistency, but to say it was track limits is b—–!”
Mercedes chose not to highlight Carlos Sainz to FIA because of superior pace
Mercedes dominated the Las Vegas GP weekend with George Russell leading every lap from pole, and also setting the quickest times in practice.
Leclerc was able to challenge Russell at the start of the race, but the Monogasque ruined his tyres after spending several laps behind him in the high degradation conditions.
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As Ferrari were their nearest rivals on track over the weekend, it made sense for Mercedes to highlight the Sainz potential infraction in a bid to earn a penalty for the Spaniard.
Instead, they chose not to report it to the FIA with Mercedes feeling they had such superior pace that it didn’t matter anyway.
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