Sainz reveals Ferrari weakness after Brazilian GP ‘nightmare’

Carlos Sainz has explained he was powerless to "avoid" his two crashes at Interlagos, calling the combined qualifying and race Sunday a "nightmare" to endure.

Extreme weather forced F1 to postpone qualifying for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix until Sunday morning in Brazil, and with conditions still difficult, five drivers triggered red-flags in the heavily disrupted session.

The second of which, was Sainz, who suffered a bizarre, slow spin when applying the throttle coming out of the first corner on a slow lap, sending his Ferrari careering into the wall.

It consigned the four-time grand prix winner to a pit lane start, after extensive repairs and a power unit change meant he could not take up his original P14 grid slot.

The 30-year-old was running in P13 when he lost control of his Ferrari for the second time in one day on lap 39, spinning into retirement as he hit the wall.

It triggered the safety car, as Sainz tried to return to the pits, despite marshals having already beginning recovery work on it. That earned him a trip to the stewards, but the future Williams driver only received a reprimand.

"Oh, just two very strange, unfortunate crashes today," he reflected with media including RacingNews365. "A bit of a nightmare day.

"Honestly, the two of them, no sign of me crashing, so I couldn't do anything to avoid them.

"But at the same time, it was not easy out there to overtake, so starting from the pit lane, it was always going to be difficult to make it to the points.

"Apologies to the whole team for the two crashes. I hope we can come back strong."

Previously undisclosed weakness

Sainz was evidently puzzled by his difficult day, which came just a week after he stormed to victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, having dominated almost the entire event.

He admitted he has struggled in wet conditions throughout the 2024 F1 season, which is odd, according to the self-proclaimed "very strong" wet driver.

Searching for a reason for doing so, he pushed the blame onto his Ferrari, arguing it is the reason for the poor wet-weather performance.

"I've always been a very strong driver in the wet, but for some reason, ever since I tried this car [the Ferrari SF-24] in the wet this year, I've never had a good feeling with it," he pondered.

"I don't know if we just don't put energy into the tyres, we run it too steep in medium-to-high speed or what it is, but it's clear that it's very unpredictable and very difficult to drive."