Carlos Sainz says he was caught unaware by the sudden snap of oversteer that wrecked his qualifying prospects in Saudi Arabia.
Sainz lost the rear of the SF21 through Turn 11 in Q2, suffering a wild spin, and lightly tapped the barrier with his rear wing endplate.
Sainz went again but suffered a snap of oversteer through the same corner and was left down in 15th place.
“A bit of a shame, as I was coming from a very strong FP3, a very strong Q1 and suddenly this snap in the middle of Turn 11 cost me a whole qualifying as in the end,” he said.
“It meant I stabbed the wall with the rear end plate, which I actually didn’t feel in the car, and then when I look in my mirror, the end plate is completely bent and the rear wing is not delivering the downforce it should.
“Something to analyse, something to look into what I could have done differently as it’s a snap of oversteering that I was not expecting, this corner has been flat for me for the whole of qualifying, and for some reason in that lap, I lost the rear, but we’ll look at it and come back from it.”
Sainz nonetheless stressed that the incident has not diminished his confidence heading into the race.
“Even with rear wing bent like it was, I was coming on a very strong lap before the rear wing properly gave up,” he said.
“Confidence has been there all weekend; it’s been there the last four weekends actually.
“I’ve been really strong in qualifying, Q1 here I was really strong so one small bump in the road, but honestly I feel comfortable and I feel happy.”
