Carlos Sainz Jr. does not understand the criticism aimed at him by Felipe Massa following Qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday, with the Renault Sport Formula 1 Team driver accused of deliberately impeding the Williams Martini Racing driver during the early stages of Q3.
Massa felt the Spaniard caused him to be delayed on his first run in Q3 and did so in a deliberate manner, something Sainz disputes, and it is the Renault driver who feels that he should have more of an issue when it comes to blocking than the Williams driver.
Sainz believes it would be better for both drivers to concentrate on Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace rather than on what happened in Qualifying, with the Spaniard set to start eighth just ahead of his Brazilian rival.
“I don’t understand it. I don’t understand the accusations and all the problems,” said Sainz. “Maybe he misunderstood the situation.
“He was in my way a lot of times in free practice and once in qualy, and that’s it. We had our issues in free practice but in qualy I didn’t see any issue apart from him impeding me.
“I know that he impeded me in Turn 4 but I don’t know why he says I impeded him and even less that I did it on purpose. It’s something that I don’t understand at the moment.
“I think it would be good for both to think about tomorrow because we have a 70-lap race and to complain about one lap in qualifying doesn’t make any sense.”
