Sainz topped FP1 at Albert Park and, in the subsequent practice sessions and early qualifying segments (he was the lead Ferrari driver in Q2), looked to able to match the times set by team-mate Charles Leclerc – who went on to score pole and lead every lap on the way to victory – before things went awry for the Spaniard in Q3.
Leclerc had just moved to the top of the times in the top 10 shootout when the session was halted after Fernando Alonso’s crash, seconds before the following Sainz was able to cross the line and set his own banker time.
When the session resumed, an ignition problem on Sainz’s car meant he left the pits too late to complete the necessary extra warm-up lap on the new, smooth track surface in Melbourne, which contributed to a wild slide late in his final lap and his eventual ninth-place grid spot.
Ahead of the race start, a switch issue meant Ferrari had to change Sainz’s steering wheel, with the replacement not set with the correct torque map, which resulted in him dropping five places on the first lap after his car went into anti-stall off the line.
He then retired on the second tour after trying to recover ground and going off while attacking Haas driver Mick Schumacher.
Speaking about his Melbourne disaster ahead of this weekend’s race at Imola, Sainz put his retirement off down to a mistake that followed “frustration” building up as a result of his various issues, which he said he was unable to react to as usual.
“One of my strengths as a driver is to stay calm in these sort of situations,” he stated. “This time, I lacked this calmness to react properly to the inconvenience that arrived to me at the time.
“And it wasn’t a great weekend because a lot of things happened, a lot of external factors happened, but at the same time I didn’t have the best reaction to this. At some point it had to happen – I’ve had, I don’t know how many, points finishes [17 – Ed]. I don’t know how many consecutive races I’ve been…
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