Sainz would have been ‘more pissed off’ to lose P4 to gearbox issue
Carlos Sainz Jr has revealed a gearbox problem would have likely prevented him from scoring points in Bahrain, even if he had avoided clashing with Max Verstappen.&♕nbsp;
The McLaren driver and Verඣstappen collided at Turn 4 as the pair squabbled over fifth place in the early stages of Sunday’🔯s Bahrain Grand Prix. The incident forced Sainz to pit with a puncture, which dropped him to the back of the field before he later retired.
Carlos Sainz Jr has revealed a g♛earbox problem would ﷺhave likely prevented him from scoring points in Bahrain, even if he had avoided clashing with Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver and Verstappen collided at Turn 4 as the pair squabbled over fifth place in the early stages of Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The incident forced Sainz to pit with a puncture, which dropped him to the back of the field before he later reti♊red.
But while Sainz was frustrated to miss ou🎀t on a potential four♋th place finish, he said he can take comfort from the fact a gearbox issue - which cost him around a second per lap - would have ruined his chances anyway.
“ꦡIt was a day to score lots of poin🥀ts but I'm gonna keep the positives,” Sainz said.
“I had a problem in the gearbox on lap 10, I was losing synchronisation of the gears for the rest of the ra𝄹ce and I was losing nearly a second a lap be🎀cause of it.
“So if I had of been P4𓆏 after that accident and suddenly the gearbox would have started failing like it did, now I would be even more pissed off. Let's keep the positives and let these things happen now and let's get the points when things are running smoother.”
The Bahrain💟 GP stewards investigated the Sainz-Vertappen collision but took no further action.
Asked about the incident, Sainz said: “I arrived in front of him and braked later than him, he hit the kerb I think or✨ got very far in the kerb and loses the car and I get a really big impact from t🍌he right side.
“So ꧟you could say leave a little more space, don't leave more space. He just missed🗹 the corner completely and hit me really hard. So that's racing, just very unfortunate.
“I had a lo🌌t of pace 💃on the cars in front, I was attacking the Mercedes and the Red Bull, just got the worst part of the accident.
“I could very easily have backed out of it and got him later in the race,” he added. “It’s just one of those things that happওens, I had to try with the pace I had, overtaking a Red Bull had to be my target. I was fast enough to do it.”
Verstappen felt Sainz had simply not seen him at t🧸he corner entry.
“He tried to go around the outside and braked late, I guess he didn't see me,” the🅰 Dutchman explained.
“In these cars you are blind to what☂ is 🌜happening next to you.I braked late and saw him turn into the corner, so I had to take avoiding action.
“We clipped wheels and it was unfortunate.”
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