Carlos Sainz has explained why officials placed him under investigation during the opening segment of qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix.
Sainz qualified fastest in the session, but his place on the grid was in question after it was noted that he’d not followed the race director’s instructions in Qualifying 1.
The same was true for Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari duo having exceeded the defined time between the two Safety Car lines.
It was an addendum to the race director’s notes following Friday’s drivers’ briefing, introduced to prevent slow-moving traffic around the highspeed Monza circuit.
“I had to slow down to not impede other cars that were on fast laps,” Sainz began.
“It was almost impossible to respect the delta that the race director put because if I would have respected it, I would have impeded my competitors.
“So I just played it safe, prefer to not impede anyone.
“And even if I was, I think, one or two seconds off the delta, I think that’s safer than actually impeding anyone.”
Officials noted at the end of Qualifying 1 that the incident would be investigated post-session, leaving a cloud over Sainz’s performance throughout the session.
However, as he made his way back into the lane after sealing pole position, it was confirmed that no further investigation was necessary.
The stewards’ report following the investigation subsequently reaffirmed comments made by Sainz.
” The Stewards thoroughly reviewed Marshalling/Positioning data, timing data, onboard cameras and CCTV cameras,” they noted.
“Both drivers stayed at or above speeds necessary to stay below 1:41.0 around the vast majority of the circuit and especially on the straights.
“However, in both cases the Stewards determined that the drivers took appropriate actions to slow and stay to the side to the track so as to not impede other drivers, and in both cases they did this significantly to allow four drivers to pass while giving those drivers a clear track.
“The Stewards therefore determine that they did not drive ‘unnecessarily slowly’, and that evidently the reason they were both slightly above the maximum time was due to their appropriate actions and take no further action.”
Sainz will, therefore, start Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix on pole for Ferrari.
It’s the Spaniard’s first pole of 2023 and the fourth of his career – his last coming at the United States Grand Prix last year.
“It’s difficult to put into words to describe the feeling,” he said of the achievement.
“It’s just amazing. The whole weekend, really, since we arrived here on Wednesday, the support and the feeling with the crowd and the energy that they put into us, it’s incredible.
“I had my birthday yesterday also, so I enjoyed that. I’m pretty sure it gave me also good feeling, good vibes and good energy into today.
“I’ve been feeling very comfortable with the car, and I put together, honestly, one of my best laps there in Q3 to seal pole–tight with these two [Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc] like it used to be last year.
“Enjoyed a lot, that lap.”
Sainz’s final margin over Verstappen was 0.014s, while Charles Leclerc was just 0.067s away in third.
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