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Carlos Sainz believes that good times will come again for him after the Spaniard suffered a DNF for the second consecutive race at the 2022 F1 Imola GP.
After crashing during Friday's qualifying, Sainz produced a brilliant recovery drive, climbing to P4 from P10 during the Sprint race. His hopes of continuing that trend, however, were dashed by McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap.
Mere days after having signed a two-year extension with Ferrari, the 27-year-old shared his thoughts in a post-race interview with Sky Sports. Sainz said:
“I saw that I didn’t get the best of starts together with Charles [Leclerc], we need to analyze what happened there but we still managed to get cleanly into turn two. Daniel [Ricciardo] went into the curb. I left him plenty of space but he must have lost the front of the car and bumped into me. I got stuck yet again in the gravel and there’s nothing I really could have done differently.”
The Spaniard lamented not being able to put on a good show for the Tifosi, who were supporting in full voice at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Sainz added, saying:
“It’s definitely a tough moment. We wanted to do a good race in front of the fans and there were still 63 laps ahead, so to get bumped out of the race in turn two, it is bad. There are always these tough moments in the life of a sportsman and today, it is my turn to go through them. As long as I keep working hard, I’m sure the good moments will come.”
DNFs in Australia and Imola have seen Carlos Sainz slip to P5 in the World Drivers' Championship standings. The Ferrari driver currently has 38 points to his name.
Ferrari may rethink team order plans between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc after 2022 F1 Imola GP
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto may be compelled to rethink his plans of not putting team orders in place after an abject 2022 F1 Imola GP.
Earlier, the Italian was adamant about keeping both drivers on an even keel with regard to the championship. Binotto said:
“It’s only three races which have been done now. There are still 20 races left, hopefully 19 or 20. So the championship is still very long. Our drivers are free to fight, and I am really looking forward and enjoying that they are battling for a good place, and first place, if possible.”
With Carlos Sainz dropping down in the standings and Red Bull making up ground with their first one-two of the season, Ferrari may have to pick one driver to back between him and Charles Leclerc.
Red Bull already has an established pecking order in the team with Sergio Perez ready to be Max Verstappen's wingman. If Sainz cannot mount a significant challenge of his own, it will be more prudent for him to play a supporting role for Leclerc instead.
