The United States Grand Prix arguably produced one of the craziest lap 1 battles we’ve witnessed in recent times, and part of the credit goes to the McLaren duo, Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris, and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who were combating each other for track positions.

But, the battle caused a lot of confusion amongst the drivers, teams, and stewards.

It all started with Sainz overtaking Norris around turn 12 but failing to adhere to track limits. Amidst this complexity, Ricciardo managed to creep his way ahead of the two drivers and snatched P5. It wasn’t until lap 7 that Michael Masi intervened and demanded Sainz give up his position to Norris.

Consequently, Sainz alleged that he mistook Ricciardo for Norris and gave the position to the Australian instead. But, his claim didn’t work in the end, as he lost another position to his former teammate.

Lando Norris rubbishes Sainz’s claim

Interestingly, Norris does not believe Sainz gave up his position to Ricciardo. Instead, the Briton reckoned that Ricciardo did complete his move on Sainz, but the latter would never admit it on live TV.

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“Everyone’s saying Carlos gave back the place to Daniel which I disagree with. I think Daniel actually overtook Carlos, but Carlos will never admit this on live TV. He would never… I think you should ask him in a live interview because he was saying he did, but I think everyone knows that’s a lie,” he said.

The real radio exchange between Sainz and Ferrari

On lap 7, Sainz received an order from his race engineer that he must return his P6 to Norris. And the Ferrari driver wasn’t ready to give it up so easily.

“No No, I gave it to Ricciardo back in turn 16. I did that on purpose. I already gave up one position to them, please,” Sainz told his race engineer.

However, following the discussions with the race director, there was no change in their demand. It was either lose the position to Norris or serve a penalty. And Sainz had to choose the wiser option. Sainz, however, wasn’t pleased with it, as he said, “Yeah, it’s illegal.”

Overall, Norris and Ricciardo did not shy away from giving their honest opinion on Sainz’s US GP claim. But, let’s hear it from the fans. Do you believe in Sainz’s words? Did he intentionally give up his position to the Honey Badger?

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