After Charles Leclerc Getting a Slap on the Wrist, Carlos Sainz Suggests an F2-Inspired Way to Solve Monaco’s Problem

F1 and FIA only made changes to the safety car rules amongst many others only after Lewis Hamilton was robbed of his 8th title. The situation in Monaco was quite dangerous this weekend and might prompt F1 to listen to Carlos Sainz’s advice. Carlos Sainz issued a statement suggesting an F2-inspired solution to solve the Monaco problem, as Charles Leclerc was penalized around the same problem. What is this problem and what is Carlos Sainz suggesting?

Charles Leclerc was handed a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris’ fast lap in Q3. Both the drivers were summoned by the stewards post the qualifying and then only the decision was made. However, that wasn’t the only impeding incident as throughout the weekend, many cars were impeded on their fast laps. Even the two Ferraris came close to crashing as one almost ran into the back of the other. 

However, the worst affected session is the Q1, where all 20 of the cars are out on the track at the same time. Being the shortest circuit on the calendar, finding a gap with 20 cars on track is impossible. Also, in some sections, it is hard to get out of the way owing to the narrow track and wider cars now. Carlos Sainz suggested that Formula 1 adopt an F2-style approach by splitting the cars into 2 batches of 10-10 each in Q1. With Q1 split into 2 parts, 1 car from each team in 1 part. 

According to Motorsportweek.com, Carlos Sainz said, “Q1 is too much. And I think with these wide cars and everything it’s too dangerous, and we should find a way to split into 10 cars in the qualifying. One team each, and I’m pretty sure that that would facilitate all the mess that we saw in Q1.”

Read More: After Basic Monaco Error, Charles Leclerc Given Sympathy by Fans as Home Curse Looms Large Again: “I Would Be Desperate”

During the post-qualifying interview, Carlos Sainz explained how it was difficult for him to put in a clean lap during the final run in Q3. However, the Spaniard stays optimistic about the race. Let’s see what he had to say. 

Carlos Sainz is hopeful about the race despite underperforming in Q3

Carlos Sainz had the pace to fight for the pole the whole weekend, as he consistently put good times in all the sessions. However, he did not have a clean final run in Q3 with a lot of other cars on the out lap. Nevertheless, the Spaniard is hopeful of getting back on the podium as he starts P4 after his teammate’s penalty. But overtaking around Monaco is super hard and the Scuderia and Sainz might have to pay the price for having a poor Saturday.

According to motorsportweek.com, Carlos Sainz said, “I think we have a strong chance of getting ourselves back on the podium if we execute a good race. But at the same time, we need to think that it’s going to be a long one, that we haven’t done a good job on Saturday, and that we’ll probably pay the price tomorrow because we’re too far behind. So, not happy about today, we should’ve been starting further up. With a clean lap or with a, let’s say, less distracting lap or with a cleaner-air lap.”

Watch this story: Is Carlos Sainz Looking to Move away from Ferrari?

Where do you think Carlos Sainz will finish coming to the race day?