Carlos Sainz, F1 driver

On an off-kilter weekend for the otherwise dominant Red Bull squad, Sainz and Ferrari capitalised by nailing every session, resulting in a key pole position on the twisty street layout, less than a tenth ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and team-mate Charles Leclerc.He then converted that into a win with a cool and shrewd race, first lowering the pace to prevent drivers behind from attempting ...

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The SF-23 proved most competitive in qualifying, with Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc combining to land seven grand prix pole positions.That one-lap success was partly enabled by Red Bull paying close attention to race pace to then pull clear over a longer stint, although Ferrari eased the pressure by struggling to manage the tyres.Unlocking the Pirellis is where Sainz believes Ferrari ...

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The Spaniard's Las Vegas weekend was compromised by the water valve incident in practice, and he was only able to secure sixth place on a day when team-mate Charles Leclerc fought for victory.In Abu Dhabi, he had a big crash in FP2, and after a poor Q1 saw him start only 16th and gamble on two stints with the hard tyres. Waiting for a safety car failed to pay off, and he tumbled out of the points ...

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Sainz complained about traffic after qualifying 16th for the Abu Dhabi GP, while also claiming that drivers deliberately throw “a little bit of dirty air” at rivals in order to hamper them while not technically being guilty of impeding. Told that Sainz is starting a place behind him in Sunday’s season finale at Yas Island, Ricciardo suggested that the Spaniard is known for making life ...

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Sainz made the comment after he found himself stranded in 16th place on the grid for the Abu Dhabi GP after hitting traffic in his last run in Q1.The Spaniard's weekend had already been made difficult by a crash in FP1 after he bottomed out on a bump in Turn 3.Sainz suggested that drivers deliberately try to make life harder for rivals."It's tricky," he said. "There were cars out there today… ...

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In a final qualifying session where the soft tyres were good for just a single flying lap – unlike the multiple fliers seen last week in Las Vegas – Lewis Hamilton was also knocked out in Q2 for Mercedes and Sergio Perez rued a track limits mistake in the other RB19.In Q3, Verstappen put in a 1m23.445s on his first of two runs, with the world champion well clear of the rest at this stage as he ...

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Sainz crashed early in the session as he passed the pit exit, bringing out the first of two red flags that greatly reduced the track time available for all drivers, with Nico Hulkenberg causing the second.Having picked up a 10-place penalty for requiring an extra energy store after his water valve cover incident in FP1 in Las Vegas last week, Sainz hasn't suffered the same fate in Abu ...

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The two incidents left only a quarter of an hour of real running at the end of the session, in which Leclerc posted a 1m24.809s to fire his way up to the top of the order - then at the expense of the two Alfa Romeos who had opened the last-gasp soft-tyre running with good pace.Prior to the red flags, George Russell had landed on top of the pile to reprise his position from FP1 with a 1m25.906s on ...

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Sainz ran over a metal water valve cover that had come loose and destroyed the chassis, power unit and energy store of his SF-23.A precedent for compensation was set after an incident at the 2017 Malaysian GP, where Romain Grosjean's Haas was badly damaged after the Frenchman struck a loose drain cover.The US-owned team subsequently negotiated a financial settlement with the Sepang ...

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Sainz ran second quickest in the pole position shootout, falling only 0.044sec short of team-mate Charles Leclerc as Max Verstappen abandoned his final flying lap to end up third.But Sainz must fight back from 12th on the grid as a legacy of taking a third control electronics package of the season to exceed the allocated two. For this, the stewards reluctantly handed out a 10-place grid ...

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Leclerc led all three segments of qualifying, which featured Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez not making the finale and both McLarens being knocked out in Q1.In the first two segments, the cars completed multiple runs on the same set of softs to build temperature and gain grip on the slippery, cool new Vegas track surface, but in Q3 the frontrunners completed typical single-lap efforts.After ...

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F1's flagship Vegas race weekend endured a turbulent start after the first practice session was red-flagged eight minutes in and then FP2 was delayed by 2hrs30mins as steps were taken to cement 30 water valve covers in place after one was lifted by Esteban Ocon and then ran over by Sainz.The major impact on the underside of the SF-23 resulted in Ferrari needing to build a new chassis and swap the ...

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Sainz's car was badly damaged when he ran over a water valve cover that had popped up early in the first session at the new venue, while Esteban Ocon also ran over it and suffered serious floor and chassis damage.Both drivers had to switch to spare chassis for FP2, while Sainz picked up a 10-place grid penalty for taking an extra energy store and internal combustion engine.Stella said that the ...

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Sainz's car suffered severe damage after running over a water valve cover early in the opening session of practice.The team had to rebuild the car around the spare chassis, and also swap the power unit and gearbox.Unfortunately for the Spaniard, one of the damaged items was the energy store, and by taking a third example for the season he automatically triggered a grid penalty.Vasseur tried to ...

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The first F1 race weekend on the famous Strip has been blindsided after Esteban Ocon ran over a water valve cover, with his Alpine lifting it proud of the resurfaced asphalt. His Alpine sustained damage and a yellow flag was waved but Sainz still clattered over the loose cover.Ferrari has been forced to replace the survival cell, internal combustion engine, energy store and control electronics ...

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Eight minutes into first free practice for the inaugural race weekend on the streets of Las Vegas, Sainz suffered huge damage to the chassis, floor and power unit of his Ferrari after ripping up a concrete frame of a manhole cover on the iconic Strip.In a separate incident, Alpine's Esteban Ocon also suffered extensive damage, prompting a chassis replacement.The Sainz incident caused a red flag ...

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To launch the Vegas race, which F1 has promoted itself at a cost of £355 million so far, an opening ceremony was held on the main straight on Thursday. Kylie Minogue and 30 Seconds To Mars were among the music acts.Then, each teams' drivers were raised on platforms to be presented to the grandstand.This special production followed Sainz, Lando Norris, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly all taking part ...

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The Spaniard lined up sixth on the grid but lost out at the getaway to Sergio Perez and George Russell to slip to eighth by the time the race was red-flagged for a hefty Turn 1 shunt involving Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen.Sainz then radioed to say his team needed to “bin” the clutch as he bemoaned start problems all weekend. He would later complain about the left gear shift paddle ...

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All 20 drivers wasted no time getting out as the condensed sprint race format only leaves teams a single-hour practice to nail down their set-ups for the entire weekend.Because of the lack of practice time, duties were split between race runs and just a handful of qualifying sims, with all teams kicking off proceedings on a dry Interlagos circuit on Pirelli's hard tyre compound.Red Bull's world ...

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The sixth and final sprint race of the 2023 season will take place over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, as Interlagos becomes the only circuit to have hosted sprints in all three seasons since F1 began to experiment with introducing shortened races.Sprint races were used as a method of setting the grid during 2021 and 2022 for the full grands prix, but 2023's reformat has effectively created a ...

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The Spaniard admits that he risked locking up and hitting team-mate Charles Leclerc when he dived down the inside and took a very tight line into the left-hander at Turn 1.It paid off as he passed Hamilton and jumped from fourth to third. However, the Mercedes driver ultimately had more pace, and a few laps later Sainz was pushed back to the fourth place he still held at the flag, before ...

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Leclerc has clearly been ahead of Sainz in Austin, having taken pole for Sunday’s main race and qualified second in the Saturday shootout, while Sainz was fourth and sixth in the two sessions.Sainz says that the sprint weekend meant that he couldn’t optimise the car over the bumps, which are more severe this year, in FP1."For me it's mainly track characteristics,” said the Spaniard when ...

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Having forged a close working relationship with Ferrari's fuel and lubricants partner Shell since joining the squad in 2021, his understanding of the complexities behind what powers his engines has grown considerably.So, as we sit chatting inside the Shell track lab that is housed inside the Ferrari garage at every F1 race on the calendar, he is quick to respond as I enquire about whether or not ...

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Sainz was due to start from 12th position after a disappointing qualifying on Friday in which he missed the cut to Q3 by 0.031s.But just an hour before the race, the Ferrari team announced that the Spaniard would not make the start at all, after encountering a fuel system issue on the car.Ferrari's mechanics frantically worked to get Sainz's SF-23 ready to go to the grid, but ultimately found the ...

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Late on Friday evening Pirelli discovered damage to tyres caused by kerbs, and the company informed the FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis of their findings.By Saturday morning and with more information having emerged from Pirelli’s investigation, the FIA had formulated a response.It decided on changes to track limits at Turns 12-13, added an extra practice session to the schedule ...

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