With two retirements in the last two races to date, Carlos Sainz approaches the Miami GP with the need to restart the machine if he does not want to compromise his chances over the duration of the 2022 championship. However, the Florida event did not did not start under the best auspices for the Spaniard who experienced a high-speed spin that cost him a set of tires in EL1 and then above all an accident during the second free practice session.
When approaching the chicane formed by turns 14 and 15, Sainz saw his Ferrari F1-75 stalled under braking and left the track before colliding with the outer wall, damaging its left front axle in particular. It also cost him and his team valuable track time on a track that everyone is discovering.
Speaking at the end of this complicated day, the pilot at number 55 is aware of this bad dynamic but wants to be combative: “I’m the first not to be happy with the last two crashes, and I’m the first to analyze them and try to draw conclusions from them. I remember going through a very similar scenario last year, where I was I crashed a few times, and right following that came my best racing streak in F1, so I know how to get out of it.”
“I think I’m still learning a lot regarding this car, it still surprises me, I’m not going to lie. There are always things out of my control that surprise me, and as soon as I arrive master them and understand them, I think, as you saw today, I can be fast in any lap.”
“I mean the rhythm is still there, I’m pretty fast on the track”he then added. “I’m obviously disappointed, because that’s not the way you want to start a weekend, giving the mechanics overtime. I probably hit the barrier in the worst possible place, there was no from Tecpro I hit a concrete wall directly, which even at the speed I was driving was very hard, so the car is damaged, I gave everyone a Friday night a little hard, which n is not ideal.”
“The heat is not easy on the tyres, and I had this little stall coming out of the previous corner. I think I overheated the rear tires a bit and lost it completely. It’s going to be a tricky Grand Prix, a lot can happen. But the pace is there, the car seems to be working well here, so we’ll take the positives.”