What Carlos Sainz did in Las Vegas that shows he’s very good at ‘playing the team game’

Carlos Sainz was at the centre of controversy with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prixafter the Spaniard went against team orders.

Leclerc went on a post-race rant over team radio after Sainz passed him against the wishes of his team after the second round of pit stops.

Ferrari engineers told Sainz not to put pressure on Leclerc, but the Spaniard ignored the order after the team was not ready for his pit stop and passed his teammate to take the final podium.

This led to Leclerc raging at his team over the scenario, which he believes cost him a chance at a podium and to close in on Lando Norris in the Drivers’ Championship. Martin Brundle felt Leclerc’s tyre management ultimately cost him a shot at a podium, after he struggled to pass George Russell.

Discussing the situation on The Race podcast, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm believes there is one aspect to Sainz’s race that showed he was playing the team game despite putting Leclerc at a disadvantage.

Carlos Sainz letting Charles Leclerc pass shows he can play team game

The 50-lap Grand Prix was difficult for Ferrari with both Leclerc and Sainz needing to yield at points during the race to make their respective strategies work.

Leclerc initially overtook Sainz at the start and could attack Russell, but that killed his tyres and enabled the Spaniard to retake the position. Before their first pit stop, Sainz later yielded as Lewis Hamilton closed onto the back of them.

Sainz would later ignore the team orders after his pit stop, but Mitchell-Malm believes the initial decision to concede position to Leclerc showed that the Spaniard was willing to play the team game.

“It wasn’t like Sainz did something totally egregious. The manner with which he overtook Leclerc and how they tried to handle things. If Sainz was racing for himself and taking charge in the way we know Carlos does, he wouldn’t have let Leclerc through the way he did in the second stint,” said Mitchell-Malm.

“Because only a driver who is very good at playing the team game whilst looking after themselves, could have somehow managed to let Leclerc through without losing another place to himself.”

Charles Leclerc rant to Ferrari engineer post-Las Vegas Grand Prix

Leclerc was raging at his engineer Bryon Bozzi post-race, knowing that scored just 12 points and reduced the deficit to Norris to 21 points when it could have been 18 points ahead of the final two races.

The Monogasque already made his frustration at the situation between him and Sainz known, when the Spaniard passed him after his final pit stop.

Things did not improve post-race when Leclerc vented his frustrations in an f-bomb-riddled rant, in which he claimed that he was too respectful towards his outgoing teammate.

Luckily for Leclerc and Sainz there are only two rounds left in their partnership, although both will likely want to maximise their chances of winning with second in the Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ title still up for grabs.