Sainz after crash: "I underestimated my speed"

Carlos Sainz takes full responsibility for his crash at the Russia GP last weekend. The McLaren rider missed turn two and then crashed hard into the wall.

At the hectic start of the race Sainz had to make use of the tarmac at the end of the straight. In order to get back on the track safely, he had to slalom around a number of Styrofoam boards. There things went horribly wrong for him: he understeered hard into the wall, broke his left front suspension and had to stop his race.

"I didn't have a good start on the dirty side of the track", explains Sainz to Motorsport-Total. "In turn two there was someone on the inside of me and I drove a little too far to the outside. I decided to drive around the signs. But the corner was very tight and I had underestimated my speed. Then I hit the wall hard."

He admits: "That was a miscalculation on my part. I want to apologise to the team for that". Team mate Lando Norris also got into trouble because of the crash. "He had to slow down and was lying last. We had nothing more to lose, so we let him in during the safety car. We just wanted to go on and hoped for another safety car. But that didn't work for us", says McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl.