Carlos Sainz lay the blame towards George Russell after his race-ending collision at the US Grand Prix. Lining up for only his third Pole Position of the season, the Ferrari driver lost the lead to Red Bull's Max Verstappen, and looked set to hold second place after Turn 1. However, he was eliminated at the first corner after a lock-up from Mercedes George Russell, who tagged the inside of Sainz, spinning the Ferrari around. Sainz was sent to the back of the field, but had to retire his car with radiator damage, whilst Russell continued with minor damage.
Sainz: Five-second penalty not harsh enough
Speaking after the race, Sainz expressed his annoyance at being on the receiving end of a mistake from a front-running driver. "It's extremely frustrating, again another race without doing more than a lap," a frustrated Sainz told Viaplay. "Especially starting from pole, to see the top four drivers making mistakes like that surprises me, but I take the worst part of it and I had to retire, and I'll keep fighting in the future." Russell was handed a five-second time penalty for the incident, and finished the race in fifth place, setting the fastest lap of the race. When asked if he believed a five-second time penalty was fair, Sainz responded: "Compared to my DNF? For sure no, but I'm not going to evaluate penalties."
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