Carlos Sainz was left "lost for words" following his retirement from the Austrian Grand Prix due to a mechanical issue. The Spaniard had been chasing down Max Verstappen for P2 when, on Lap 57 of 71, smoke began billowing from the back of his Ferrari, forcing him to pull off the track as marshals raced to put out the flames. Sainz admits that he was taken aback by how suddenly the issue happened. "There was no feedback coming from the engine that this was about to happen," he told Sky Sports F1 . "[It was] very sudden, and [I'm] a bit lost for words, because it's obviously a big loss on points and [the loss of] a huge result for the team. "I think it would have been an easy 1-2 today."
Damage to car "not ideal", admits Sainz
When asked what he had seen in terms of the amount of damage to the car, Sainz admitted that it is something the team will need to look into. "[There was] a lot of fire, a lot of damage, for sure, which is not ideal and something that we will need to look at," he said. "Yesterday the pace was there, the [tyre] degradation was very low on our car. We were fast. I will take it and turn the page as soon as possible." Given the pace of the car – with teammate Charles Leclerc taking the win – Sainz acknowledges that it makes his retirement more difficult to accept. "For sure, it is more difficult to take, because we were about to cut the points to the leaders of the championship, both Max and Red Bull," the British Grand Prix winner explained. "We were about to [get] a very big result for the team and one of the cars [recorded a] DNF, so it's heartbreaking, but we need to keep pushing, turn the page, and it's a long season ahead."
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