SAINZ: There's never been an experience like this, it's a strange game

Moving away from the top two, Carlos Sainz said his last lap was a "very strange situation" after Abu Dhabi's safety car pulled out.

Sainz competed with two red bull drivers and Walteri Bottas for the final podium spot, and in his opinion, the chaos surrounding the safety car led to a strange final lap. Five snare riders were allowed to pass the safety car, but that left Sainz behind two bellwethers.

Considering that only selected snare cars can pass through safety cars, spaniards are puzzled by how this happened and urged the FIA to consider how to prevent this from happening in the future.

Sainz said in an interview after the race: "It was indeed a very strange situation for me, it was clear that I was fighting Valtelli (Bottas) and the Little Red Bull driver with a neutral tire, and my hard tyres were already very worn. At first, I was told I wasn't allowed to undo it, then I was told to undo it myself, and some people were able to undo it, but I thought there should be an Aston Martin and a McLaren between the two front-runners and me. I've never had an experience like this before and I believe it was a strange race. ”

In the end, in the final race of the season, the Ferrari driver managed to reach the podium, surpassing Lando Norris and teammate Charles Leclerc in his season total to finish fifth in the drivers' standings, while he also helped Ferrari team to third place in the constructors' standings.