F1 News
Sainz preparing for the worst following engine problems in FP1
Bobby Vincent
McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr. has admitted he is preparing for pain this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix following a costly engine issue that left the Spaniard out of essentially the whole of FP1.
Sainz missed basically the whole of the first free practice session with a power unit problem, which saw his energy store component switched midway through the session, meaning the Spaniard could only record four laps on Thursday morning.
The former Renault driver tried to make up for lost track-time in FP2, by recording 47 laps, but he has conceded that the fact he barely participated in FP1 may come back to haunt him at the weekend.
"Monaco is the last place you want to miss FP1 and standstill for one and a half hours while the others get laps on you,” Sainz said.
“I am 30 or 40 laps behind, but the mechanics did a brilliant job to get me back out on track right at the end to get an installation lap, but those 30 or 40 laps that I am behind are going to hurt further into the weekend. Hopefully we can recover little by little.”
