Carlos Sainz thinks Ferrari was on course for an “easy one-two” before his spectacular retirement from the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard was almost within attacking distance of Max Verstappen before his engine failed and caught fire, leading to a scary moment as the flames engulfed his car while Sainz unable to leave the cockpit.
“Yes, it was a very tricky situation because I wanted to jump out, but the car was rolling backwards and I didn’t want the car to roll back forever,” he explained.
A tough break for Carlos Sainz #AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/cEV04FoRzY
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 10, 2022
“I knew I was catching a bit of fire and I was waiting for the marshals to come. They never came until quite late, so it was a bit of a moment, but nothing happened.”
Eventually, the situation was brought under control, but a week after his first Formula 1 win at Silverstone, it was a harsh bump back to earth for Sainz.
“There was no feedback coming from the engine that this was about to happen,” he told Sky Sports.
“Very sudden, and yeah, a bit lost for words because it’s obviously a big, big loss on points on a huge result for a team – I think it would have been an easy one-two today.”
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Asked what he saw from the cockpit after the failure, Sainz added: “Well, fire, a lot of fire, a lot of damage for sure, which is not ideal and something that we will keep need to look at.
“At least today, the pace was there, the degradation was very low on our car, we were fast. So yeah, I will take it and turn the page as soon as possible.”
The failure will only add to concerns over the reliability of Ferrari’s engine after Charles Leclerc’s two power unit-related retirements in Spain and Baku.
We know you gave it your all yesterday, @CarlosSainz55. Through the highs and lows, we’re sticking together ? #essereFerrari ? #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/EEBmmO4IGu
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 11, 2022
And it was also a bitter pill in terms of the championship as the Scuderia missed out on the chance to fully capitalise on their advantage over Red Bull.
“For sure it is more difficult to take because we were about to cut the points to the leaders of the championship, both Max and Red Bull,” Sainz said.
“We were about to do a very big result for the team and one of the cars DNF’d. So it’s heart-breaking, but we need to keep pushing to turn the page and it’s still a long season ahead.”