Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz has been discharged from Sochi Hospital 4 following a high-speed crash during third practice for the Russian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard crashed into the barriers at over 140mph when he lost control of the rear of his car under braking, causing him to spear left into the wall before coming to a rest underneath the TechPro safety barriers at the end of the Turn 13 run-off.
He was airlifted to hospital for precautionary checks, but was later cleared. He was however due to remain in hospital overnight, but has instead been discharged and will return to his hotel room.
He’s hopeful that he will be allowed to race on Sunday, but must first undergo an FIA medical examination.
“As you can see I am fine,” he said. “My back and my neck are just a bit sore from the accident, but I’m totally ready.
“Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up in a good shape and maybe I can try and race – this is definitely the intention!
“Obviously we need to be cautious… I’ve always been conscious. As soon as the accident happened I tried to talk to the team on the radio, but it wasn’t working and those must have been some scary moments…
“I’d like to thank everyone for their support, it’s really nice to receive all your messages at a moment like this one! I hope to see you all tomorrow out there!”
Discussing the moment before the crash, team principal Franz Tost believed it could have been caused by less grippy conditions and a change in braking balance.
“I hope he will have a good night’s sleep and tomorrow morning he will have to go through the FIA medical checks to decide if he will be able to take part in tomorrow’s race,” said Tost.
“Now, just to clarify what happened, prior to the accident, Carlos had completed a long-run on the Option tyre, before changing to the Prime to do two further laps.
“On Primes the grip level is lower. In addition he had changed the brake shape on the steering wheel, which meant he had more braking rearwards.
“A combination of these two factors might have been the cause of the rears locking, which made the car uncontrollable.”
