Carlos Sainz Jr described his Renault R.S.18 as 'undriveable' after first lap contact with the Williams of Sergey Sirotkin at the Russian Grand Prix.
As the field had piled into Turn 2, Sainz Jr was attempting to come back from outside of the circuit on the exit of the corner, Sirotkin then clattered into the side of the Renault after getting caught in Sainz's Renault and Marcus Ericsson's Sauber on his outside.
The damage to the R.S.18 as a result of the collision meant a large chunk of the floor was missing the right-hand side of the car, this resulted in a considerable amount of downforce missing which made the car was so difficult to drive.
Despite trying to stay out on track with the amount of damage he sustained, the Spaniard admitted points were simply not possible. Once he saw the damage after the race, he understood why the car felt was 'undriveable'.
"I had mixed feelings after the race," said Sainz Jr. "At the start I got away from the line really well on the Soft tyre and was past a couple of cars with the Hypersoft tyres.
"However, I got hit by a Williams into turn two and, even though I didn’t feel much, the floor and side of the car was destroyed and that made it really difficult to drive.
"I stayed out on track to try and help the team with the strategy, holding back the other midfield cars as much as possible, but unfortunately the points were out of reach.
"When I jumped out at the end of the race I could see how bad the damage was and it made sense why the car was almost undriveable. Time to prepare for Japan now."
