Carlos Sainz was left frustrated after seeing a promising points finish slip away in dramatic fashion at the Monaco Grand Prix, blaming fellow drivers.
Williams had put itself in a strong position through an inventive strategy that saw its drivers slow the midfield pack and open up favourable opportunities for pit stops. The approach elevated both Sainz and team-mate Alex Albon into the top 10 before a red flag halted proceedings.
The pair looked set to make further progress once the race resumed, with George Russell carrying a drive-through penalty that was expected to hand them another position.
However, Sainz’s hopes quickly unravelled after the restart. On the opening lap, the Spaniard made contact with the barriers exiting the hairpin after being struck by Nico Hulkenberg. Moments later, while trying to recover lost momentum, he became involved in another clash.
This time, Franco Colapinto spun the Williams driver at Portier, bringing Sainz’s race to an immediate end. The double setback left him out of the running and without any points, prompting his anger at what he viewed as reckless driving from rivals.
“Very well-managed race up until that restart,” the Spaniard told Crash.net.
“I think we did a very good, solid pace, very good race in general was en route to score another couple of points this weekend with a solid race.
“But unfortunately people at the restart just decided to take stupid risks, and my race was over in a corner like Turn 6 that we’ve raced around here hundreds of times, and we know it always bunches up, and people going for the dream move get it wrong sometimes, and I was the victim of it.
“So yeah, very frustrating, because to throw all the effort of the team and two points to the bin is very frustrating.”
He added: “It’s quite impressive that, with so much experience, around a track like this, that every year it bunches up in Loews [hairpin], people still can do this kind of mistakes.
“It’s textbook Monaco, and you fall into the same mistakes sometimes.”
