Sainz started the Saturday sprint event at Imola in 10th place after crashing out in Q2, and he put in a charging drive up to fourth place behind Max Verstappen, who won the sprint race, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez. Sainz will start Sunday's grand prix from that position.
Sainz admitted that the qualifying crash had been a low from which he has to learn lessons, but said his recovery drive had "put ourselves in the fight" for a strong result.
When asked by Autosport about the impact his qualifying shunt had on him, Sainz replied: "Very painful.
"I mean, I'm not going to hide it. It was a very negative day for me.
"It's how it goes sometimes in sport, you have bad moments and yesterday that definitely was a low for me, and I keep trying to learn from them, and keep trying to make myself stronger from them.
"The important thing is that today we bounced back solidly and we put ourselves in the fight for tomorrow, and tomorrow anything could happen.
"I could still win, I could still make a podium and leave the weekend pretty happy. The important thing is to keep learning from these mistakes.
"I mean it's no secret, mistakes like yesterday happen for a reason and I'm still not 100%, I'm out there fighting the car and trying to figure it out.
"Obviously I'm quick, this is no secret that yesterday I was quick, in Australia I was quick. It's just the confidence with it, and the predictability that I have from the car. and as soon as I get this sorted I will be 100%."
On Saturday, Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto said Sainz has to learn to deal with the pressure of having a frontrunning car for the first time, but the Spaniard denied that pressure played any role in his Saturday crash.
"I don't think yesterday's mistake was pressure," he said. "I mean it was Q2, I knew I had already done a very good lap to go to Q3. I was just trying myself out there, to try different lines different balance.
"I'm still out there trying and hustling with the car to try and find my my groove. I wasn't actually pushing that much. And I made a mistake that in these conditions can happen.
"But yesterday if you asked me in Q2 did I feel pressure? No, it was Q2, I was playing around with the car and made a mistake.
"Definitely I have less practice than the guys that I'm fighting like Charles, Max and Checo to fight for a podium or race winning car.
"I lack this experience, and maybe lack the patience in Q2 to know that you don't need those last two tenths that maybe I was trying to find yesterday.
"That experience will serve me well. And once I get used to it I'm sure I will be as fast as anyone."
Sainz added that his run to fourth in the sprint was the best result he could achieve.
"We made up the maximum places that we could make up today," he said.
"It was solid race, no issues, just getting to learn the car, keep learning the car in the dry, because we've done very little laps. Today was a positive race.
"The only negative is that the Red Bulls seem to have a bit more race pace than us here, and that we're going to need to find some some pace in the dry if we want to put up a fight with them."
