Sainz: I was in battle with max, one guy bumped into me

What a difference a day makes! On Saturday, Carlos Sainz was celebrating his third Formula 1 pole position after a commendable effort to pip teammate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

But a sluggish start off the line in the race in Sunday meant he was try to make amends to to retake his position from Verstappen when a fast-charging George Russell bumped into the side of his Ferrari, causing race-ending damage.

"I think you don't need many words, you just need the images to see exactly what happened," Sainz commented on the incident with Sky Sports F1. "The images speak for themselves.

"I was in a hell of a battle with max into turn 1 then suddenly one guy who was in the battle came and bumped into me and that was it," he maintained.

"I think it is a combination of things," Sainz went on to explain. "Our start hasn't been great because we have an inherent problem in this car.

"My start wasn't too bad when you compare it to the Mercs, it was Max who got a really good one," he pointed out.

Speaking later in Ferrari's press release, Sainz said: "Not much to say today. I got hit by the Mercedes going into turn 1 while battling with Max (Verstappen), I managed to come back to the pits but the car was too badly damaged to continue.

"I feel the pace would have been there and it would have been an interesting race, but I prefer to look ahead and start focusing on Mexico. It’s not easy to catch a break this season, but we’ll keep going at it until the end," he concluded.

Notably Russell visited he Ferrari hospitality area after the race and offered his apologies to Sainz for ruining his race. The Briton was handed a five-second penalty during the race for his mistake.

Russell spoke to the media about the incident; he said: "Firstly apologies to Carlos, I’ve already been to see him and when I was attacking into Turn 1 and I saw he was on the inside with Max.

"I was expecting him to try to hold it around the outside with him and as soon as I recognized he was trying to cut back underneath Max I had already committed to my breaking zone and contact was inevitable but as a driver you need to be aware of those possibilities of the cars ahead.

"Not a lot more to say," the Briton concluded. (Additional reporting by Agnes Carlier)