Sainz: My mind is telling me all the time to race

Toro Rosso rookie Carlos Sainz faced the media in the Sochi Autodrom paddock, a few hours before he was due to line up on the grid for the Russian Grand Prix, 24 hours after his massive shunt during free practice on Saturday morning, and insisted he had no worries ahead of the race despite what happened.

Sainz told reporters, “No bruises, just as you can imagine a bit stiff and a bit sore from yesterday, nothing that a painkiller cannot kill. I will start the race and if I cannot move my neck or something I will stop."

"I feel perfectly capable of doing the start and participating in the race. It’s just one race more. Obviously the accident was a tough one, but it’s already past. Turn 13 on the first lap will be a bit emotional, but from there on it will be all back to normal."

"I’m more than ready to race and my mind is telling me all the time to race, to race, to race and I think it’s the best thing I can do at the moment."

The manner in which Sainz's Toro Rosso speared into and under the techpro barrier has set alarm bells ringing, with several fellow drivers concerned that the safety mechanism did not do the job it was supposed to do.

Sainz ackowledged that the matter would be discussed, “It will come out for sure in the next drivers’ briefing. It’s something for sure that we need to keep looking at. I was for sure lucky that nothing happened to me."

"It took a while to get me out, but just to let you know that I was always conscious. I was always knowing what was going on."

"Obviously my main concern at that point was to let everyone know I was fine. I was even downshifting and putting neutral on the car to let my engineers know I was moving and I was doing everything," he revealed.

“But just the radio was not working, and I think that’s why everything was so tense and so hectic at that moment. To let you know my main concern at that point was to let my parents know, or all of you guys, that I was completely fine, I had no injuries," insisted Sainz.

“The first thing I did when I got to the hospital was to look at the crash to see what exactly happened, even though I could remember perfectly what had happened."

"I remember perfectly changing my brake shape [balance] before Turn 13, and just when hitting the brakes I lost the rear of the car and hit the first barrier, and then the approach to the next barrier. I remember everything perfectly, fortunately or unfortunately!” decalred the Spaniard.