Sainz frustrated to miss out on podium after following team orders

Carlos Sainz seemed overall the quicker of the two Ferrari drivers on Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

However, that wasn’t enough to convince the team bosses to give him the green light on overtaking teammate Charles Leclerc.

Sainz was stuck behind the Monegasque in the opening laps and despite his pleading the team refused to let him past. That ultimately proved costly as the Spaniard had to queue behind Leclerc in the VSC period, dropping him down two places to Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

Sainz did manage to pass them, but that left him vulnerable to the surging Sergio Perez, who passed the Ferrari driver for 3rd in the closing laps after a colossal fight.

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“Yeah, obviously frustrated with the final outcome after having such a strong pace on the medium [tyres], feeling also like I was playing the team game and not getting rewarded with a good result,” he said.

“It leaves you always with a sour feeling. I’ve been very strong today, very quick, very fast, good overtaking, good defending, but in the end P4 is not what I want.”

It got from bad to worse for Sainz, as he was handed an additional 10-second penalty after the race for track limits, demoting him from 4th to 6th.