Sainz: Verstappen clash saved my race

Carlos Sainz says his clash with Max Verstappen may have saved his race. According to the McLaren driver, without the incident, a gearbox issue would have caused him a major headache later in the race.

Sainz had been looking very competitive in the early stages of the race and had been challenging the Red Bull driver for fifth until the two made brief contact at turn four.

Verstappen escaped any damage but the Spaniard wasn't so lucky, being forced to pit for a change of tyres. According to Sainz himself though, the incident may have saved his race in the long run.

"I'm trying to look at the positives, Sainz said. "A good start, a good first lap, the cars in front weren't opening the gap and I could stay with the top six without problems.

"Then I don't think we would have finished in the points because my gearbox failed all throughout the race.

"We had a gearbox problem that was making us lose almost a second per lap, so if I had overtaken Verstappen I would have been fifth and then suddenly I would have had the gearbox problem, then it would have been even more dramatic."