Carlos Sainz extended his apologies to Alex Albon following their collision that resulted in Albon’s exit from the Canadian GP.
Carlos Sainz has apologised to Alex Albon, smoothing things over with his potential 2025 team-mate after punting the Williams driver out of the Canadian Grand Prix.
As the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve began to dry out, Carlos Sainz began to push harder as he felt points were on the cards in what had been a tricky weekend for Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz admits it was a ‘driver mistake’
Unfortunately, all efforts were in vain as he lost control and collided with Albon at Turn 5.
Sainz confessed, “The mistake was made by the driver. I decided to take some calculated risks as I noticed that we had improved our competitiveness in dry conditions. I saw an opportunity to score points by overtaking cars in DRS trains.”
However, I ultimately suffered the consequences.
Albon also experienced the same fate. Despite his attempt to steer clear of Sainz, the rotating Ferrari made contact with Albon’s Williams as Sainz veered across the racing path.
Damaging the rear-right of the FW46, both drivers were out of the race.
Following that, Sainz proceeded to express his apologies to Ferrari and additionally Albon through a post on Instagram.
“On social media, he shared, ‘It was a forgettable race for our team. The whole weekend has been quite challenging for us.'”
“I attempted to utilize the DRS train to make an overtaking move, but unfortunately made an error on the kerb. My sincerest apologies to both the team and Albon.”
Sainz is optimistic that the disappointing double DNF for Ferrari in Canada was a rare occurrence in the team’s 2024 performance.
He added that Canada seemed to be a unique and exceptional race, and the team should analyze what occurred. He noted that the other teams were evidently adopting a different approach during qualifying to enhance their tire performance.
Key takeaways from the Canadian Grand Prix
Canadian GP conclusions: Villeneuve v Ricciardo and Russell’s new nickname
Canadian GP driver ratings: Record low score for Sergio Perez horror show
Carlos Sainz is Williams ‘number one target’ to partner Alex Albon
After securing a new multi-year contract extension with Williams, Albon’s place in the team for the upcoming season is already confirmed. Team boss James Vowles is now on the lookout for a suitable team-mate to join the Thai-British racer.
Sainz is his top choice.
“He is an exceptional driver who won a race last year against all expectations by outperforming Max Verstappen in Singapore with a remarkable performance, and this is not the first time,” Vowles expressed to Sky Sports. “He possesses a clever mindset, a logical approach, and astonishing speed.”
The performance he displayed in Shanghai this year may come across as negative, but it’s not. While he crashed during qualifying, which is a situation many of us can relate to, it is truly commendable for an athlete to be able to bounce back, return to the track, and outperform their teammate under such circumstances.
In my opinion, this demonstrates the immense strength of his driving abilities, and I believe any team in the racing world would consider themselves lucky to have Carlos as part of their lineup.
When asked if Carlos is at the top of his list, the team boss responded, “I can confirm that. Carlos is our number one target.”
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