Carlos Sainz has explained how he suddenly became "scared" during his collision with Kimi Antonelli in the United States GP, that left the Williams driver with multiple FIA penalties.
On Lap 6, Sainz attempted to scythe up the inside of Antonelli at the tight left-hander of Turn 16, a common overtaking place, but misjudged the effort and rammed Antonelli into the gravel.
Sainz retired seconds later with the damage he sustained, as he also copped a five-place grid penalty for Mexico City and two penalty points from the stewards for being at fault and causing a collision.
It came after Sainz had secured Williams' best-ever result in a Sprint race, with third the day before, as he recounted the actions behind the costly incident, with Antonelli going on to take the fastest lap, but finishing outside of the points in 12th.
"I was coming quite quickly, and felt I had a lot of pace in the car, and had just done a similar move on Ollie [Bearman] at Turn 15 and went for the move on Antonelli," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365.
"I think he started to close the door earlier than I expected, and I locked up and got a bit scared by him closing in on me, and we collided.
"But I think the incident looks worse than it actually is because in the end, it was a small lock-up with big consequences.
"I could have played it safe, and brought it home the P8 and wonder what if?
"Sometimes it goes perfectly, but with Kimi it was a bit more aggressive and you go home with zero, so this sport is a very fine balancing act between playing it safe, bringing home the P8 or risking it a bit more to try and bring home the P7 - and it didn't quite work.
"One day you look like a hero, the next day, people will criticise you and bring you down.
"So I know it looks bad from the outside in terms of the lock-up and contact, but honestly, with the wide apexes that we have here, we both needed to be aware of the racing, and in this case, we both didn't do a good job."
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