Sainz overtakes Leclerc off the track: 'No penalty, very surprising'

At the end of the race, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc had a tough fight with each other. The two Ferrari drivers had to fight it out for the last spot on the podium in the home race in Italy. On lap 47, Sainz overtook his teammate back, but according to F1 analyst Jolyon Palmer, this was not done in a completely fair manner.

Ferrari drivers fight for podium

On lap 47, Leclerc passed Sainz in the first chicane, but the Monegasque braked a little too late and as a result got out of the first corner combination badly. Sainz made good use of this, after which the two Ferrari drivers came off wheel-to-wheel at the second chicane. Here Sainz would eventually overtake his teammate back, but the two did both go off the track. Palmer analyses the moment in corners four and five.

"As Leclerc tries to turn into the corner here, he can’t, because Sainz is steaming it in, too deep on the brakes and he cuts the corner. Leclerc tries to do it again, but he can’t as Sainz is there, so they both cut the corner. But that is Sainz actually gaining a position, without getting round the corner. So that one for me, it’s quite surprising that he didn’t get a penalty for that. That is not a legit way to make an overtake. This one was given a blind eye by the stewards," Palmer said on Formula1's YouTube channel.

Sainz faster than Leclerc at Monza

All weekend Sainz was faster than Leclerc according to Palmer and that had to pay off in a podium for the Spaniard at all costs. "It shows the desperation in Carlos to get, what was his first podium of the season, on a race weekend where he was actually stronger than Charles throughout most of it. All the way through practise, qualified on pole, has been ahead of his teammate, but the last couple of laps he has got his teammate putting him under pressure for a podium."