Carlos Sainz crestfallen after qualifying incident: 'Weekend destroyed'

Carlos Sainz has stated his Canadian Grand Prix weekend is “destroyed” after being impeded by Isack Hadjar during qualifying.

Sainz exited the session at the end of Q1 in 17th place after coming across a slow-moving Hadjar during his final lap.

A frustrated Hadjar expressed over his team radio that he thought Sainz was on a slow lap and was handed a three-place grid penalty by the stewards for the incident.

Having shown strong pace throughout the weekend prior to his early exit, Sainz asserted his practice speed was little consolation to him.

“Well, I don't care if I was fast,” Sainz told media including RacingNews365. 

“If in Q1 you arrive and there's a guy in the middle of the road that completely blows your qualifying away and means that your weekend is destroyed,” he said.

“I'm in P17 when I should be fighting for Q3 and the top eight, so I'm extremely disappointed.”

Sainz stated he thought Hadjar was giving him dirty air on purpose before it became clear the Racing Bulls driver wasn't aware the Spaniard was pushing.

“I saw him already in Turn 3 and 4, I was surprised he didn't get out of the way,” Sainz reflected. “I already lost a tenth or two with dirty air, but I was like, ‘okay, he's just playing the game of giving me dirty air'.

“That's not impeding, but he's giving me dirty air of a tenth just to try to give me dirty air on purpose.

“And then I realised going into Turn 5, he's not getting out of the way, I have to lift and I have to overtake him in the inside of six, like if it's a race.

“Obviously with a bad angle into six and seven, I lost another two or three tenths there, so three or four tenths just in that lap, which is anyway a lap that is 20 milliseconds from Q2. That was the margin we had today.

“So, it’s honestly very frustrating, but it's what it is.”

With a 10-place grid penalty inflicted on Yuki Tsunoda, Sainz has moved up one position on the starting grid.