 "Carlos Sainz is stuck at the end of the pit after his car broke down. Image: Reuters")
Spanish F1 driver Carlos Sainz had a nightmare at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday after his Williams car caught fire before the race even started. The incident forced a 10-minute delay to the start and ended Sainz’s day before he could even compete.
Sainz, who was starting from 19th on the grid, reported brake issues just before smoke started pouring out from the rear of his car. Moments later, flames were visible. Luckily, he was close to the pit entrance and marshals rushed over quickly to put out the fire.
“Game over, Carlos, jump out,” Sainz’s race engineer Gaetan Jego said on the team radio after the car caught fire.
“There’s damage in the car, for sure,” Sainz reported. “The car is undriveable. When I say undriveable, it’s pulling under braking, no load in high-speed. Undriveable,” Sainz said after retiring from the race.
“We’ve just seen that we had quite a bit of damage on the floor, so we were lacking quite a lot of downforce. We also had an issue with the brakes from the start of Quali, so too many things going to on to actually push around a high-confidence track like this,” he added.
Fans online were quick to react to the drama, with many poking fun at Sainz’s misfortune. Coincidentally, Sainz’s car had caught fire at the Austrian GP last year as well. He was driving for Ferrari at the time.
Impact Shorts
View AllVerstappen restires after crash with Antonelli
Max Verstappen suffered his first retirement of the Formula 1 season on Sunday after a collision with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap of Red Bull’s home Austrian Grand Prix.
The four-times world champion had started seventh on the grid, with Italian rookie Antonelli ninth, at a circuit where he has won a record five times.
Antonelli, who clearly caused the Turn Three collision, also retired and the safety car was deployed.
“I’m out, I got hit like crazy,” Verstappen, third in the championship going into the race, said over the team radio.
“Sorry about that, I locked the rear,” Antonelli told his team.
The retirement ended a run of 31 grands prix in the points for the Dutch driver, whose fans throng in their thousands to the Red Bull Ring.
(With agency inputs)