Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had a disastrous Australian GP where his outing in Albert Park lasted just a little longer than one lap.
Sainz looked strong in his F1-75 during the Friday practice sessions. His weekend started going downhill on Saturday when his compatriot Fernando Alonso’s untimely crash ruined his Q3 run.
The 27-year old looked set to securing a solid lap time but was forced to back off after Alonso’s incident brought out a red flag. After the session resumed, he couldn’t capitalize and earn a ninth-place start for the race.
Finishing up top from ninth was going to be hard, even before he decided to start the race on hard compound tyres. They never got up to speed and he lost control of his on the second lap. It led to him being stuck on the gravel trap, bringing his Australian GP to a close.
The other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc meanwhile dominated proceedings from the get go. Leclerc started on pole, won the race and also earned an extra point for the fastest lap.
It’s safe to say that the 2022 Australian GP will be something Sainz would love to forget.
Also read: Sergio Perez expresses his disappointment over Max Verstappen’s DNF at the 2022 Australian GP
Carlos Sainz reveals the issue which spoiled his Australian GP
Ferrari arguably have the strongest car on the grid this year. Even though Sainz started P9, there was no reason why he couldn’t bring home some big points for the team.
It wasn’t meant to be however as the Spaniard explained what went wrong for him. He apparently had an issue with his steering wheel, which had to be replaced right before the race started. His new wheel too had an unforeseen issue that triggered ‘anti-stall’.
🇦🇺 Difficult to digest. Had to change the steering wheel before the start and the new one also had an issue, so the anti-stall was triggered. Trying to recover I made a mistake and that was it. Congrats to the team and to Charles. On to Imola.
👉https://t.co/ReLBPtxsFP pic.twitter.com/oLOj7jw3fC
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) April 10, 2022
His anti-stall resulted in him losing five positions on the very first lap. Then, when he tried to make amends by overtaking a Haas around the outside, he lost control of his car and spun into the gravel trap. Despite his best efforts, he got stuck, bringing his outing in Albert Park to a premature end.
Sainz will be hoping to put the horror show of Melbourne behind him before they hit the track again in two weeks. This time, the F1 circus travels all the way to Imola for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
Also read: Charles Leclerc looks back on a dominant performance at the 2022 Australian GP
