Sainz admits his move on Verstappen was 'on the limit'

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Ferrari's Carlos Sainz finished second in Saturday's Brazilian GP sprint race, after pulling off a spectacular pass on Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the 24-lap race.

Sainz started the race from fifth place but son made short work of his friend and former McLaren team mate Lando Norris to move up to fourth behind Russell.

They made short work of pole sitter Kevin Magnussen, with the Haas showing its lack of speed and ceding position after position in the opening laps. That released Russell to chase after Verstappen, with Sainz close behind.

Read also: Russell out-duels Verstappen to secure Brazil sprint win

Russell forced his way past the Red Bull on lap 15, and after that Sainz was determined to follow suit. He finally seized his chance as the two cars went through the Senna Esses on lap 19.

It was not without consequences, with Sainz' right rear wheel making contact with Verstappen's front wing. Sainz was lucky to escape without a puncture, but Verstappen was compromised by front wing end-plate which detached and flew off.

“It was on the limit for sure,” Sainz admitted of his forceful move. “They [Red Bull] are so difficult to pass, I had to really go tight into turn 1 in order to pass him.

“With a Red Bull, you're either aggressive on the braking or you don't pass them," he explained. "They are so quick on the straight that you really need to go for it on the braking.

“I'm sorry if I had a bit of contact, but that's racing," he shrugged. "Sometimes you need to go for it if you want to make it stick.”

The damage to Verstappen's front wing meant that Lewis Hamilton was soon up to third and closing fast, with Sainz worried that his soft tyres were losing grip faster than those on the Mercedes.

“Normally [we] have a bit more deg than the Mercs and I could see them pushing quite hard," Sainz said. “But I managed to make all the positions at the start and the first couple of laps getting into the fight with Max and George."

Although he finished in second place, Sainz will be demoted five spots on tomorrow's Grand Prix grid after taking new engine components for the weekend.

That will drop him behind his team mate Charles Leclerc who finished P6 today and will leave an all-Mercedes front row after all - but Sainz had no regrets.

"I had to be aggressive because obviously tomorrow I'm taking the penalty and I think P2 was the maximum today," he noted. “I was happy with the race, happy with the pace.

"It's just that the Mercs look like they picked up the pace recently and they are very quick in the race.”

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.