Sainz was incensed when Ferrari called him into the pits on lap 33, one lap after the Alpine of Esteban Ocon that he was shadowing during the entire first stint.
Despite a slow stop from Alpine, Sainz didn't manage to overcut the Frenchman and he felt Ferrari should have been more patient as he had more pace in hand on his tyres, which he had been able to save while being stuck behind the Frenchman.
“What the f***! This is exactly what I talked about,” he raged on the radio, and when told the aim of the pitstop was to cover off Lewis Hamilton behind, he replied: “I don’t care about Hamilton. This is weak.”
Sainz later showed remorse for his outburst, saying he "shouldn't have showed it on the radio" in the race.
"Obviously, I was very quick on the in-lap and felt like I still had a lot more lap time to come in clean air.
“I had been doing all that management. To suddenly pit, it left me frustrated."
Team boss Vasseur defended the timing of the pitstop, because the team felt the threat from Hamilton's Mercedes was simply too big to leave the Spaniard out.
"I think it was a good strategy because when we asked him to pit it was to avoid losing a position against Hamilton," said Vasseur.
"Positions are key on this track. It would have been better to extend if we were not at risk from Hamilton, but in this situation I think it was the good call."
Source: Autosport