Carlos Sainz’s Retirement at the Bahrain Grand Prix: A Tough Battle

Spanish racing driver, Carlos Sainz, bid farewell to the Bahrain Grand Prix due to substantial damage to his Williams FW46. The incident occurred when he collided with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, creating a sizable hole in Sainz’s vehicle. Despite requesting an investigation into Tsunoda’s actions, the stewards decided no further action was necessary.

The Unfortunate Incident and Its Consequences

Despite continuing with the race, Sainz ultimately retired on lap 47. Reflecting on his experience during the race, Sainz shared, “I had some intense battles out there today. However, after a promising start, I found myself consistently chasing cars that were about 2-3 tenths quicker per lap than us, which made me want to keep up with them, use more of my tyre, and eventually fall behind.

He further explained, “I managed to get close to Yuki at one point, but a snap from his car while exiting turn one caused contact with my sidepod, effectively ending my race as it resulted in a significant loss of load, making me over a second slower.

The Ten-Second Penalty and Sainz’s Explanation

Prior to his retirement, Sainz was penalized ten seconds for forcing Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli off the track at turn 10 following the safety car restart. When questioned about the incident, Sainz clarified, “It was just a moment of heated competition after the safety car restart, with cold tires and no downforce in my car. I locked up and went wide, trying to let him pass, but Alex was there, so I decided to let Alex go, knowing he’s my team-mate. This resulted in a 10-second penalty.

The Positives from the Weekend and Looking Ahead

Despite the setbacks, Sainz identified several positives from the weekend, including “a good qualifying performance, a good start, consecutive good starts with this car, aggressive first lap, decent pace. The Alpine was too strong for us this weekend.” He continued, “When you have the top eight cars and the two s, that’s ten positions, and I was fighting for my life between P1 and P10. We were just not quite quick enough, but we learned a lot from the first two stints, had a good quality start, so we’re on the right trajectory.

Sainz concluded by expressing hope that the upcoming weekends will come together better and that they can work to catch Gasly and Doohan with the Alpines, who seemed to be in a league of their own during this weekend.