Racing
© Jonathan Borba
Carlos Sainz told Andrea Kimi Antonelli to “calm down” after the Mercedes driver called him an “idiot” over team radio during Belgian Grand Prix practice, with Sainz insisting he had not impeded him on a difficult Friday that also brought a stewards’ reprimand and more concern over Williams’ pace.
The flashpoint came in Free Practice 1, when Antonelli came up behind Sainz at reduced speed through a fast section and had to brake sharply before venting over the radio. Sainz rejected the idea that he had blocked the Mercedes driver.
Speaking to AS and F1 TV, Sainz said: “I think he felt like I impeded him, I don't feel like I did.” He added: “I don't think he should call me an idiot either, on the radio. I think that's forbidden, to swear and insult a rival, so I think he should calm down a bit.”
Sainz suggested the situation was exaggerated by the characteristics of the cars in straight-line mode. “I guess nowadays with the SM, if you don't get out of the way exactly like the other driver wants, you cannot turn because you have no downforce with the wings open,” he said. No penalty was issued to Sainz for the on-track incident.
The Williams driver described it as “a complicated Friday” and “a very strange” one after a separate problem in FP1 left him 20th. He said he had a car issue and was not running what he believed was the correct setup, which badly hurt his first-session pace.
His day was then complicated further by a reprimand for crossing the white line at the pit-lane entry after aborting a stop and rejoining the track. Sainz accepted responsibility, but said the situation started with a late call from the team.
“Yes, it was a mistake from the team telling me to stay out so late and me listening to them,” Sainz said. “Maybe I should have gone straight into the pits, because we were in practice and that lap was important to charge the battery for the soft tires. I chose the easy way.”
Williams team principal James Vowles told Sky Sports F1 the problem came from communication timing. He said Sainz had decided to pit, but the battery was almost empty and needed another lap to recharge. According to Vowles, there was roughly a 1.5-second delay before that message reached the car, by which point Sainz was already at the pit entry.
Williams made progress before FP2, where Sainz improved to 16th, but the recovery was limited. He said the team had “improved the car a lot for FP2” without finding the step it needed, despite trying changes on “the front wings, the floor, the mechanics.”
“We still weren't where we wanted to be,” Sainz said, leaving Williams with work to do not only to clean up the kind of incidents that defined his Friday at Spa, but to find the performance that was still missing over a single lap.