What was supposed to be a normal qualifying session for Carlos Sainz ended up being a roller coaster. During the final minutes of Q2, the Spaniard caused an impending incident involving Lewis Hamilton, which the stewards took note of, and they ultimately handed him a 3-place grid penalty.
An error that costs Sainz everything
Carlos Sainz explained after the session that he hadn’t received any communication from the team regarding Hamilton’s position on the track. The Spanish driver mentioned that during his flying lap, he overtook several cars that were on their in-laps, and assumed Hamilton was one of them
“Nobody has told me anything and I have passed many cars on my fast lap because they were all coming in an in lap. Obviously, Hamilton was one of those cars that was not on an in lap, or the team also believed that he was on an in lap and not starting a new one.
“They didn’t tell me that it was one that was preparing to push. I thought more that the session was already over and there should still be a few seconds left until it ended, and the lap has started and it’s clear well. No, they haven’t warned me and no I haven’t been able to get out of the way.”
Carlos Sainz chooses to focus on the positives as he makes improvements at the F1 Japanese GP
Setting the incident aside, the 30-year-old driver prefers to keep his concentration on the good news. He’s slowly adapting to his new car and is starting to feel more confident.
Nevertheless, there are still some pathways to take, as he believes he would have made Q3 with a better lap. In Q1 he had a very small edge on Alex Albon.
“Yes, comfortable. What is said is comfortable. I’m still not at 100%. But I do understand the car better and how to drive it. And I think that’s why I’m going faster.
“I think that today I could have done a lap a couple of tenths faster in Q2 that would have put me through into Q3, but as I said happy with the progress. But on the other hand upset about not being able to get through.”
