Carlos Sainz's 2022 Japanese Grand Prix ended on the first lap as he lost control on his car and crashed in visibility conditions he described as pretty much impossible.
Carlos Sainz's crash brought out the Safety Car, and the race was soon Red Flagged as conditions worsened, and the wait was on to see when Formula 1 could go racing again in Japan.
However the Spaniard had to watch the race from the sidelines, as Max Verstappen went on to take a dominant win, and with that sealing his second World Title.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after crashing, Sainz said: "To be honest, I’m not too worried. I’m obviously disappointed for crashing the car and for the team, but at the same time the conditions were pretty much impossible with visibility.
"On intermediates the aquaplaning was crazy," Sainz added. "I tried to get out of Checo’s slipstream to see something, but as soon as I got out of the slipstream I had more water in the tyres and went into aquaplaning which sent me into a spin.
"Then you are down to luck because you know everyone behind you can’t see where you are and you are in the middle of the track, praying for anyone not to hit you," he pointed out.
Why take a risk with the race start?
The start of the race and then the suspension was the subject of much debate, as all cars started in Intermediate tyres.
"Maybe the best [option] would have been a rolling start in extremes," Sainz believed. "Everyone complains that F1 doesn’t race in the wet, but when you see that situation, basically we are driving without visibility.
"How can you drive a Formula 1 car at 300kph without visibility?" the Spaniard questioned. "Even behind a Safety Car we are going at 100 or 150kph and still at those speeds we don’t see nothing.
"If one driver decides to get a bit out of the racing line or has a small aquaplaning or has to change a switch on the steering wheel and gets a bit out of line and hits a tractor, it’s over.
"I still don’t know why we keep risking, in these conditions, having a tractor on track. You were going to red flag it anyway, so why risk it?," the Ferrari driver concluded referring to the moment Pierre Gasly passed a tractor that was on the side of the track.
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