Carlos Sainz delivers brutal ‘can’t trust anyone’ verdict after Monza controversy

Carlos Sainz will leave Ferrari for Williams at the end of F1 2024

Carlos Sainz says Oscar Piastri’s attack on Lando Norris at the Italian Grand Prix shows “you can’t trust anyone” in F1, not even your team-mate.

McLaren lined up first and second on the Monza grid with Norris on pole position with both drivers warned by team boss Andrea Stella to respect the “papaya rules”.

Carlos Sainz: There are no friends here and you can’t trust anyone

That effectively meant don’t race one another as you would a rival, but instead adopt the mindset of “synergy” and working together.

But while the team-mates made it through the first chicane without incident after Norris led them off the line, Piastri launched an attacked into the second that compromised Norris who then lost second place to Charles Leclerc.

McLaren went on to finish the Grand Prix in second and third positions after Leclerc’s one-stop strategy overhauled McLaren for Ferrari to claim their first Monza win in five years.

That cost Norris in the championship as instead of walking away with a potential 26 points, he scored just 16 having also taken the fastest lap of the race.

As such he only took eight points out of Max Verstappen’s lead on a weekend that Red Bull were braced for a much heavier hit.

Asked about Piastri’s attack on Norris, Sainz told Marca: “I haven’t seen it. When you’re behind the McLarens, they don’t know who’s who, so I don’t know how it worked, but it shows you that there are no friends here and you can’t trust anyone.”

McLaren’s papaya rules and the points after Monza

‘Papaya rules’ explained: What are McLaren instructing their drivers with new phrase?

The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the Italian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz explains ‘coin toss’ strategy at Monza

As for Sainz, the Williams-bound Spaniard finished in fourth place in his last race as a Ferrari driver on Italian soil.

He had been running behind his team-mate when Ferrari made the call to one-stop both Sainz and Leclerc but while Leclerc held on to win the Grand Prix, Sainz was overtaken by the McLaren pairing.

“It worked for Charles to stop on lap 15 and I thought it would have to be on lap 20 to be able to make just one stop and in the end it was possible, so good for him,” he said.

“I lost six or seven seconds by extending the life of that medium tyre. The podium has slipped away and it turns out that in the end that strategy for the afternoon was not the best.

“There was a moment in the race where I thought we could win, but we did, I think, as a team a very good job, taking risks.”

He, however, concedes Ferrari benefitted from McLaren’s decision to give up track position with their two-stop strategies.

“Ferrari was right, then McLaren had two cars ahead, in my opinion it is true that they should have always kept one car ahead of the other Ferrari , but it is easy to say now,” said Sainz.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a shame not to be on the podium. At the same time, I feel like it was a bit of a coin toss. After the first pit stop, we missed the chance of a podium there.

“But honestly, I’m really happy to see the team winning here this weekend. I wish I was up there on the podium with Charles, but I think he deserved it more than anyone else.”

Read next: