Sainz left 'laughing in the car' by Mercedes DRS ploy

Carlos Sainz says he was "laughing in the car" when Mercedes tried to use his Singapore DRS trick against him to protect Lewis Hamilton and George Russell's positions in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix

Sainz had caught up with the Mercedes duo in the closing stages of the race at Suzuka, with Russell preceding Hamilton at that point as they ran fifth and sixth.

However, Russell was on much older tyres, having opted for a one-stop strategy, which compelled Mercedes to order its drivers to swap positions.

Russell then requested that Hamilton give him DRS to help him fend off Sainz. The ploy wasn't lost on the Ferrari driver who told his team "They are using my tricks against me!"

But Russell's tyre handicap allowed Sainz to quickly overhaul his Mercedes rival. The Spaniard admitted to being amused by the situation.

• Read also: Tempers flare between Hamilton and Russell at Suzuka

"Yeah, I found it [funny], actually," he said. "I was laughing in the car because I could see Lewis backing off in 130R to give the DRS to George.

"And I was like, I need to make sure I attack George into the chicane. If I don't throw him offline, it's going to be impossible to pass them.

"And I went very deep into the chicane, managed to get a bit of a switchback, and then I used the DRS, slipstream on everything to pass him. It was good fun. And yeah, it nearly cost me my own position with my own tricks."

Sainz suggested that Mercedes would have perhaps been more successful in protecting its drivers' positions had they left Russell ahead of Hamilton.

"I think maybe they had a better chance, honestly speaking, if Lewis would have stayed behind," he said. "But at the same time I would have tried a move on Lewis because George was very slow in the Esses, and eight and nine.

"So I would have tried into 11 or into 13, because they were both very slow there. So we will never know. But it would have been riskier to leave also Lewis behind, because if I got Lewis, I got George."

On the radio, in the closing laps, Sainz vowed to "go after" Hamilton. But the seven-time world champion remained out of reach for the Scuderia charger.

"I think today Suzuka proved to be quite tricky to overtake," he said. "And track position was fundamental. I think I was four or five-tenths quicker than Lewis, closing in on him.

"And I don't think that's enough delta to pass. Just could last two laps, I was quicker. But it gets to a point where if you're not one second quicker, you're not passing. Also, Charles took quite a long time to pass George on very worn hards for George.

"And it just proved to me that today it was all about track position, which is what we lost at the pit stop. We were four seconds in front of Lewis - we exit eight behind."

Up ahead, Charles Leclerc held his own in fourth position, a result that suggested to Sainz that he could have done better than sixth.

"Yeah, I think today we had better pace than the result showed, no?" he said. "I think we were very quick straight from the start.

"I think I got a very good start. And then the first stint, I felt like I had a bit more pace than the guys in front. I managed well my tyres.

"But obviously being behind on track position is always going to cost you, especially in a difficult and hot Suzuka to overtake.

"But yeah, honestly, I felt back to normal today. As soon as I got up into a rhythm, I understood the car well, and I was driving well. A shame about the last pit stop, as it cost us quite a bit of race time, but it's what it is."

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