Williams driver Carlos Sainz has pointed to a “lack of control” from Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda as the cause of his retirement from the F1 Bahrain GP after a collision between the drivers left his car with significant sidepod damage.
The Spanish driver, who had shown promising pace in qualifying, was forced to retire after contact with Tsunoda late in the race resulted in a large hole being torn from the right sidepod of his Williams.
Sainz pits the blame on Yuki Tsunoda
“He did lose the car fighting with me, and that cost me the race,” Sainz stated in the print media zone. “At the same time, when I look at the onboard, [it is] kind of racing incident also.”
Despite his race ending prematurely, Sainz showed a measured perspective on the incident. “So it cost me my race, a bit of a lack of control from him,” he explained. “But at the same time, if I was Yuki and you lose a bit the car in the middle of a fight, you would understand why you don’t want a penalty.”
“So bit of a tough one but this time, it cost me. Got the wrong side of the coin and it is what it is.”
The incident came as Sainz’s earlier strong showing was already beginning to fade, with the Williams driver slipping down the order before the collision occurred.
A 10-second penalty for Sainz during the F1 Bahrain GP
Sainz also received a 10-second penalty for forcing Kimi Antonelli off the track during the race, though he dismissed its significance given his impending retirement. “It was just a heat of the moment with the fighting for positions after the safety car restart with cold hards and no downforce in the car,” he said. “I just locked up and went a bit wide, and I was trying to let him by, but then there was Alex. So I decided to let by Alex, knowing that he’s my team-mate, and it resulted in a 10-second penalty, but I knew I was going to retire anyway.”
Despite the disappointing conclusion to his race, Sainz highlighted some positives from the weekend as he did run in P6 early in the Grand Prix.
“It was a good quali, good start. Already, a couple of good starts in a row with this car. Good attacking first lap. Decent pace,” said the Spanish driver.
However, he acknowledged that Williams currently lacks the performance to compete with their closest rivals.
“Just the Alpine was too quick for us this weekend and when you have the top eight cars plus the two Alpines, that’s the top 10 positions, and I was there between P11, P10, fighting for my life. But, we were just not quite quick enough.”
Looking towards the Saudi Arabian GP, Sainz remains cautiously optimistic about Williams’ trajectory. “A lot to learn from. We’re in the right trajectory.
“Just the weekends will come a bit more together, hopefully. And at the same time, we have this little bit to improve on the car to see if we can catch Gastly and Doohan with the Alpine because this weekend, they seem to be in the other league more than in our league.”
