Carlos Sainz hampered by neck pain at the Miami Grand Prix

A heavy crash on Friday coupled with a lack of race distances under his belt left Carlos Sainz suffering with neck pain in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.

But that didn’t stop him from putting his Ferrari on the podium, the Spaniard third on the day.

Sainz’s weekend at the Miami International Autodrome went from bad to good with the driver beginning his weekend with a thumping crash in Friday’s practice and wrapping it up with champagne on the podium.

That third placed was hard-earned as he spent most of the 57-laps holding Sergio Perez at bay, and doing so with a sore neck.

“I’ve been better,” said Sainz after the race.

“Obviously, after the crash from Friday I still had a bit of a neck pain going into the race, but I had to manage it and I fought through it.”

Good P3!! 🏆💪🏼

–@ScuderiaFerrari #essereFerrari#Carlossainz pic.twitter.com/oPUDSFe3UB

— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) May 8, 2022

Sunday’s grand prix brought an end to Sainz’s two-race run for crashing on the first lap of a grand prix having done so in Australia and again at Imola.

He concedes those DNFs may have also played a role in his sore neck as his neck muscles hadn’t completed a grand prix distance since late March.

“I wasn’t feeling 100 per cent,” he said, “but maybe also the fact that I haven’t done the last two races. So also, the neck feels that.

“And it’s a combination of those two things that maybe I was paying a bit the price and at some stages of the race I couldn’t push 100 per cent.”

Sainz has now either finished on the podium or retired from all five of this season’s races.

While his campaign began with back-to-back top-three showings, it then slumped to back-to-back retirements.

Asked if it was a ‘relief’ to be back on the podium, he said: “It’s not so much a relief – but it’s needed.

“I think I needed to complete a race distance, to get the body back to shape, and also get the feel for the car on used tyres, high…