Sainz: It would have been quite heroic to finish

Carlos Sainz will never forget his first ever Russian Grand Prix in which he came so close to a heroic sixth place finish, but was denied when brakes failed on his Toro Rosso and resulted in him slithering into the tecpro barriers where 24 hours earlier he had to be extricated from after a huge qualifying accident.

On Saturday before the race the Spaniard spent several hours in hospital for routine check-up after his scary accident before before being discharged and on the morning of the race was passed fit to race.

Lining up on the back of the grid the rookie made a good start, was up to seventh at one point and was looking good for a sixth place finish when the front left brake began to flame.

Looking back on his day in the cockpit Sainz admitted to reporters afterwards, "Being honest in the first ten laps, behind the safety car, doing so many esses I was feeling a bit dizzy."

"I don't know if it was just mental because I was thinking about the accident, or if I was just feeling dizzy. But after lap ten it went away and I could push normally without problems."

"Maybe a bit of dizziness," replied Sainz when asked how he felt prior to the race. "If I [did] some strange gestures my neck and back hurts a bit. In the car I didn't have any back or neck problems."

"Just that bit of dizziness in the first ten laps behind the safety car. I opened up my visor and it improved. I said: I hope it's not like this all the race. It wasn't, it went away and I could push normally, no problems at all," he added.

On lap 46 his race came to a cruel end when the front left disc started burning and caused him to spin backwards into the tecpro, "Luckily I still had three other brakes to protect me and slow me down. It was the front left, and I also had a small brake failure in the rear left. Quite scary."

"From lap 20-something I knew something like that could happen, but I still committed to keep racing. Knowing I was P7 and I had big chances with the pace I had, I was committed to keep pushing, and if the accident happened it happened. It would have been quite heroic to finish," mused Sainz.