Leading F1 drivers issued major plea by old rival: 'Bear with us'

Carlos Sainz has pleaded with leading F1 drivers to "bear with" backmarkers who do not immediately get out of the way for blue flags.

When a car is being lapped, they are shown a blue flag by marshals and must get out of the way within three marshal posts or run the risk of a penalty for ignoring them. 

However, leading drivers often voice their frustrations over the radio that backmarkers are taking too long to clear the path, with United States Grand Prix winner Kimi Antonelli voicing his displeasure during his lights-to-flag run. 

However, Sainz, who has direct, recent experience of both having blue flags waved for him during his time at Ferrari between 2021 and 2024 and now being on the receiving end at Williams, has pleaded with his former rivals that simply 'getting out of the way' is not as "straightforward" as it may seem.

"We're doing the best we can," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365, about the blue flags and drivers apparently not getting out of the way quickly enough. 

"The problem is there's such a big speed difference from the top cars to us. It's up to three or four seconds, so the moment you calculate to let them by, maybe they've caught you up quicker than you expected, or vice versa. 

"To the top guys, I've been in both positions, lapping a lot of people in my Ferrari days. I'm being lapped now, and I can tell you, it's not easy for the ones having to let people by, so bear with us because it's not like as straightforward as it looks when you're leading."

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Sainz's Mexico expectations

Looking ahead to the next races, Sainz was hopeful that Williams could pull off another points haul in what has been a difficult season. 

"It is very tricky now; it takes miracles to score points, but I do expect Mexico to be relatively closer to the field than potentially Las Vegas," Sainz said.

"So just looking forward to maybe having a bit more of a chance to be mixing it up with the midfield, a bit like in Singapore for Baku. 

"I think these results put a value on what we did in Baku, scoring a point with this car, because I think you can see that it's very tricky for us right now."