Sainz takes blame for misjudging grip in Q3 crash

Carlos Sainz says he made a driving error in his crash at the start of Q3 at the Singapore Grand Prix, as he went off starting a timed lap. Oscar Piastri was completing a lap and had just been allowed through by Sainz ahead of the final corner, while Max Verstappen was close behind as the Spaniard accelerated to begin his opening effort. Sainz overcorrected a big slide in the middle of the corner and spun backwards into the barrier at high speed, and he admits he pushed too hard given the lack of tire temperature he had. “I had a bit of a strange accident there,” Sainz said. “I had to let a lot of cars through there opening my lap and my tires were just a lot colder than I thought they would be. I misjudged the grip going on the bump in Turn 17 and it completely snapped on me. “Driving mistake. I underestimated the grip I would get launching the lap. I was already under pressure with another car coming and I knew that launching the lap, I was already going to be slower because of the approach in the last corner. So slow, so it meant that I tried to do something that was not enough grip to do.” Sainz won for Ferrari at Singapore in 2023 but this season has had a more challenging weekend, and says he hasn’t had the confidence he needed to be fighting for pole position. “Yep, it’s been a big struggle for me this weekend. Very strange how it can change from one year to another,” he admitted. “But like we’ve seen many times this year, to get the tires in the right window over one lap with our car is quite tricky. I had a couple of decent laps over the weekend, but in general very inconsistent. “I had issues with the brakes yesterday, which didn’t help my build-up to the weekend. Here it’s all about gaining confidence, executing from FP1 to Q3, perfect laps and I didn’t have that this weekend. I was just struggling yesterday, didn’t get into a rhythm and today to get the tires and the brakes into a window was just a very tricky thing to do.” Sainz admitted he might have to start Sunday’s race from the pit lane due to the amount of damage sustained in the crash, if the team has to change specification of any components. “Honestly, the car looks quite damaged. I don’t know what we will do,” he said. “I just hope that I can have a normal race tomorrow, get into a rhythm like I could in Baku, and then we can show good pace. “I think this year, once I get into a rhythm in the race, we should be OK. It’s just over one lap with the black magic of the tires to get everything working. I mean, you saw the mistake I did. It’s not common and not typical, and it shows that there must be something, honestly, with a very, very fine line between them to grip and not to grip. So tomorrow, as soon as I get into a rhythm, we will be there.”