Carlos Sainz hints at foul play from fellow drivers in qualifying - "I see people giving a bit of third gear on purpose"

Carlos Sainz has alleged foul play from fellow drivers in qualifying and feels a few of them are using underhand tactics to compromise laps from fellow drivers.

The Spaniard did not have the best Abu Dhabi GP qualifying session on Saturday as he was eliminated in Q1. He was unable to improve on his final lap and hence was bumped out.

Talking about the session and losing out in Q1, Sainz was not too happy with his competitors as he hinted at a sense of foul play. He said that a driver could very subtly cost the following car a few tenths by being a respectable distance ahead of the car behind and not getting called out for impeding.

Talking to the media after the session, Carlos Sainz said:

“Between us drivers, we know that if you do a corner two seconds in front of another car, you’re going to make me lose a tenth or two in the corner. When it’s tight in Q1 and Q2, I see people giving a bit of third gear on purpose in some corners to maybe make the others lose some time in corners, which we don’t consider impeding because it’s not like you need to lift, but you’re giving him dirty air and you’re giving him a bad run in that corner.”

Talking about his lap, the Ferrari driver claimed he lost a tenth or two because of the cars in front of him and hence he lost out.

“So by going out last, I made everything basically [in] all sector one and two very close to all the cars in front and I found myself losing a tenth or two,” Carlos Sainz added.

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We had a scrappy Q1: Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc was notably able to qualify on the front row for Sunday's Abu Dhabi GP. Sainz, meanwhile, claimed that he struggled with pace all weekend and needed a smooth Q1 and Q2, which he could not get. He said:

“Clearly the pace all weekend hasn’t been the strongest and we needed a perfect Q1 and Q2, given how tight the field is, and we had a very scrappy Q1.”

The Spaniard added:

“We went out very late into the last run, we had a problem with the front wing, sent as the last car out and once I opened my last lap, I found myself in a load of traffic in sector one and two, and I lost a couple of tenths there that probably cost me the spot in Q2.”

Sainz will be starting the race out of the top 15 and for this complicates matters for Ferrari, which is battling Mercedes for P2 in the championship.