For serious, though, I pointed out after Austin last year that cutting across the entire track at the first turn of the first lap is awful racecraft from Sainz, and got shouted down by Russell-haters.
For serious, though, I pointed out after Austin last year that cutting across the entire track at the first turn of the first lap is awful racecraft from Sainz, and got shouted down by Russell-haters.
While I think Russell should’ve been more careful in that scenario (and didn’t have a wall there IIRC), yea Sainz definitely seems to only have awareness to one side of the car at best.
Russell was already committed to crossing the apex and running out to track limits at corner exit in Austin, when Sainz suddenly checked up and tried to cut inside of Verstappen. Russell shouldn’t have overcommitted either, but the sudden move to the inside was a violation of iRacing 101-level racecraft – you can always safely assume that some other dingbat is going to try and make a lunge into the first corner on race start, so if you’re out front it’s in your best interest to be as predictable as possible for the cars behind. As the old saw goes, you can’t win a race in the first corner, but you sure can lose one – and Sainz has lost two in the space of a year that way.
I do agree with that, I never understood why Russell got so much hate for that incident. Maybe people see something different in it, idk.
At least here in Spa Carlos was trying to avoid Hamilton who was also cutting it a bit too close, but that’s the nature of that stupid turn that’s deadly on starts. It’s still not cool to slam someone against the wall, that just can’t end well either way.
Btw I’m also thinking about how he spun out Alonso in Australia.