"Little to say other than sorry" - Carlos Sainz says 'the weekend is not over yet' after disappointing finish to qualifying at 2022 F1 Imola GP

On his way to securing the fastest lap in qualifying thus far, Carlos Sainz endured an absolute nightmare at the start of Q3 at Imola earlier this Friday. The Spaniard spun out and hit the wall, bringing the session to an abrupt end and knocking himself out of the running.

The Ferrari driver admitted his mistake and apologized to the team and the Tifosi, who were present on the team's home soil at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Sainz reassured them of a better performance ahead of Saturday's sprint race, saying:

“This is a very tough one to take and there is little to say other than sorry to the entire team and every fan out there. I wasn’t even pushing that hard, as we had more than enough pace to make it into Q3 comfortably. The car surprised me with a snap and I couldn’t stop it before hitting the wall. Thinking positively, the weekend is not over yet and I still have the Sprint Race and the Race on Sunday to try to recover. It’s a difficult moment but now it’s time to focus on what is ahead.”

Carlos Sainz still has the opportunity to improve his starting grid position for the main race on Sunday and will be starting the sprint race from tenth.

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"Unfortunately I lost it" - Carlos Sainz details what went wrong at 2022 F1 Imola GP qualifying session

A day after announcing his two-year contract extension with the Prancing Horse, Carlos Sainz had an absolute nightmare of a start to the Imola GP.

In a post-qualifying interaction, the Ferrari driver revealed that he was not pushing too hard and that he had no warning that he was about to lose control of the car. He said:

“The target was to put a banker lap in knowing that the rain was going to come, and honestly I knew I was P1, P2 the whole session and I wasn’t pushing really that hard at all, but the car surprised me in that corner. Maybe it was starting to rain, maybe it was tyres too hot after doing two consecutive push laps. I don’t know, I need to understand it because it’s not a mistake that… I don’t think I was exposing myself to a mistake pushing like that.”

Sainz then went on to add, saying:

“It was not a lap that was properly on the limit at all, it was a lap that was okay just to put a banker in without putting it on the limit, and unfortunately I lost it, the car, for some reason. I didn’t have any warning that I was going to lose it and it just went. Tricky conditions for sure but not ideal.”

With the Sprint race tomorrow setting the grid for Sunday's race, the Spaniard will be hoping for a better showing for team and fans alike.