Nico Rosberg believes Carlos Sainz deserved to receive a penalty after an incident the Ferrari star was embroiled in during the F1 Sprint at the 2024 Chinese GP in Shanghai.
The 29-year-old sealed a fifth-place finish during the 19-lap event in the Jiading District this Saturday. But it was far from a simple day at the office for the Spaniard as Sainz fought from a fifth-place start. The Ferrari driver also lost positions to Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.
Sainz gained an early position from Lewis Hamilton running Lando Norris wide while fighting over the lead at the start. But the only progress Sainz enjoyed thereafter came by overtaking Fernando Alonso. The Spanish racers also touched to give the Aston Martin pilot a puncture.
Nico Rosberg felt Carlos Sainz deserved a penalty for his fight with Charles Leclerc
But it was another incident which the stewards took no further action on which Rosberg felt Sainz deserved a penalty for during the F1 Sprint at the Chinese GP. The five-time pole-sitter escaped any sanctions following his Lap 16 fight with Ferrari teammate, Leclerc, in Shanghai.
Sainz and Leclerc came close to blows while fighting for fourth place in the final tours of the 19-lap event. The latter enjoyed a perfect slipstream with the aid of DRS into the hairpin at Turn 13. But Sainz covered the inside line to force the Monegasque to try a brave overtake.
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Leclerc hung on around his teammate’s outside but Sainz continued to refuse to yield. So, he forced his 23-time pole-sitting teammate off the track to Rosberg’s dismay. But the stewards decided against taking any action for Sainz running his teammate off the circuit in the Sprint.
“He misses the apex completely,” Rosberg said on Sky Sports F1 (20/4, 04:34). “He doesn’t even try to get to the apex, just runs him out wide. Ok, that might be worthy of a penalty. It reminds me a little bit of my time with Lewis and I got a penalty.”
Nico Rosberg received a penalty for forcing Lewis Hamilton off at the 2016 Austrian GP
Rosberg compared Sainz and Leclerc’s incident in the F1 Sprint at the 2024 Chinese GP with his with Hamilton at the 2016 Austrian GP. The stewards slapped Rosberg with a 10-second penalty in Spielberg for causing a collision after forcing his then-title rival wide off the track.
But while Sainz made no attempt to take the apex of the Turn 13 hairpin to defend from his Ferrari teammate, Leclerc avoided any contact by taking to the run-off. He also soon gained P4 away from Sainz into Turn 2 on Lap 17 after the Spaniard briefly lost the rear of his SF-24.
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