Sainz: "Surprised that drivers in the top-four make such mistakes"

"I think you don't need many words, you need the images. They speak to themselves," an exasperated Sainz began at Sky Sports. "I was in the middle of a fight with Max in turn one, then suddenly one guy who wasn't in the battle came from nowhere and bumped into me."

It was not the first time the 28-year-old driver has been involved in an incident at the start. "I think it's a combination of things, our starts haven't been great this year because there is an inherent problem with this car. My start wasn't too bad compared to the Mercedes, it was Max who got a good start," he said.

Sainz also made no bones about it at Viaplay. "Extremely frustrating. It amazes me that drivers in the top four make such mistakes." Russell received a five-second time penalty. Whether Sainz thinks that was enough? "Compared to my DNF, definitely not. But I'm not going to evaluate penalties."