Carlos Sainz Jr was left speechless after once again failing to finish a Grand Prix through no fault of his own. After experiencing the joy and ecstasy of winning his first F1 race at Silverstone last week, the Spaniard looked destined for another top two finish in Austria yesterday, before disaster struck.
Running in third, the 27-year-old was closing up to Max Verstappen in second and was moments away from overtaking the Dutchman. Just before he looked to make his move, the driver’s Ferrari suddenly began to smoke. He then rolled helplessly towards the gravel as his engine failed and flames began to consume the car.
In a close call Sainz just managed to escape from the car before the fire engulfed him and proceeded to sit on a grass bank with his head bowed in disbelief. After suffering his second mechanical retirement this season, the driver expressed his shock at what took place and the lack of communication from his team leading up to the unfortunate incident.
“There was no feedback coming from the engine that this was about to happen,” he told Sky Sports F1. "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.
“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 in at,” he added when asked what damage he was able to assess in the cockpit. "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.”
Sainz added that the circumstances in which he retired made it all the tougher for him to accept, given how well the team had been performing during the race. “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,” he 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 turn the page and it’s still a long season ahead.” Sainz’s teammate Charles Leclerc managed to quell fears of more problems for Ferrari as he overcame throttle issues late in the race to secure his fifth F1 win. The relief was palpable in Leclerc's voice after the race, as he said: "Yes. Yes. I was scared. I was so scared."
He added: "I definitely needed that one. The last five races have been incredibly difficult for me but also for the team, and to finally show we have the pace in the car and can do it was incredibly important."
The 24-year-old is now 38 points adrift of leader Verstappen in the drivers standings, while Sainz remains fourth and holds a slender five point lead over Mercedes’ George Russell, with Hamilton still sixth after securing his third podium finish in a row.
