Sainz critical of himself and Ferrari after Aus DNF

Jamie Woodhouse
Carlos Sainz walks head down with Ferrari team members. Australia, April 2022.

Carlos Sainz walking with Ferrari team members, head down, wearing his race suit. Australia, April 2022.

Carlos Sainz admitted to his shortcomings at the Australian Grand Prix, but says Ferrari must do the same as well.

The Spaniard endured quite the nightmare weekend as Formula 1 made its return to Albert Park, starting the race P9 after red flags following Fernando Alonso’s crash and an issue with the car starter, leading to unprepared tyres and being unable to improve as a result.

And starting the race on the hard tyre, Sainz dropped out of the top 10 during the opening two laps, falling as low as P14 before going too deep at Turn 9, sliding over the grass and beaching his Ferrari in the gravel at Turn 10, making it a short, but certainly not sweet Sunday afternoon.

Sainz went on to reveal that he had a steering wheel issue before the start, confirmed by team boss Mattia Binotto, which led to anti-stall and switch problems with the second wheel not correctly prepared.

So, on a weekend where Charles Leclerc won comfortably in the other Ferrari, Sainz believes both himself and the team must share the blame for his horror show.

“We had similar problems with the switches in the car as yesterday,” Sainz told The Race regarding his pre-race problems.

“Some switches not working. We had to change the steering wheel one minute before the start which meant the second steering wheel wasn’t well configured for the start, and I had the wrong start map setting which was giving me anti-stall in both starts, which meant unfortunately we triggered anti-stall.

“We went backwards on the hard tyre and then with the rush of wanting to come back through the field, I made a driving mistake.

 

“I need to be hard on myself for a driver mistake.

“Obviously we’re still getting to know these tyres and clearly the hard tyre this weekend was tricky in the initial laps and I shouldn’t have pushed as I’ve been pushing.

“It’s an easy conclusion: shouldn’t have pushed so much and I should have stayed patient.

“But at the same time, we were not perfect as a team. Too many steering issues, anti-stall problems and the qualy which meant it puts you on the back foot.

“It puts you under pressure and I didn’t react accordingly.”

Binotto has backed Sainz to return to form at Imola which hosts the upcoming Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, a home race for the Ferrari team.

 

Leclerc dominant while Sainz struggles

Charles Leclerc took a Grand Chelem while Carlos Sainz had a weekend to forget in Australia for Ferrari.