Carlos Sainz’s father and his manager both said he was fit and well after the Toro Rosso driver’s high-speed crash during yesterday’s final practice for today’s Russian Grand Prix, while Germany’s Nico Rosberg took pole position with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton joining his title rival on the front row.
Sainz’s father, former world rally champion Carlos Sainz, wrote on Twitter: “Just talked to Carlos. Thanks to God, he is ok. More testing going on, but much happier now. Thanks to everyone for the support.”
His manager, Borja Ortiz-Echague, said the 21-year-old Spanish driver was doing “perfectly” in hospital following the accident.
Photo: EPA
The Toro Rosso team issued a statement saying: “Following Carlos Sainz’s accident during FP3 today in Sochi, the driver is perfectly conscious and was able to talk to the extrication team.”
“Once out of the car he was taken to the circuit medical center, where he underwent an initial assessment of his condition,” they said. “He has now been taken by air ambulance to the Sochi Hospital 4.”
“Investigations on the reasons for the accident will take place once the car is back in the team’s garage,” they added.
Sainz later tweeted a photograph of himself giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed.
“All ok! Nothing to worry about! Already thinking how to convince The doctors to Be on the grid for tomorrow!” he wrote.
The younger Sainz was extricated from his crashed Toro Rosso car and carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance and then to the circuit medical center.
He lost control of his car after braking on a high-speed section of the Sochi Autodrom, where he glanced off the outside wall and then speared straight into the barriers.
The accident brought the morning’s third and final practice for the Russian Grand Prix to a halt — and then an early conclusion — after 36 minutes.
The Toro Rosso driver’s car sheared off the track and into the barriers at Turn 13, where he rammed into the wall under the fitted tec-pro barriers.
There were immediate calls for an explanation why the tec-pro barriers, designed to absorb the worst of this kind of accident, were fitted above the level of the car’s impact.
As a result, few of the drivers had any real experience or information from the three practice sessions after Friday’s two practice sessions were ruined by a diesel spillage and then torrential rain.
Later, after yesterday’s final qualifying session, Rosberg’s claimed his third top-of-the-grid position of the season, while denying championship leader Hamilton his 50th career pole for the third race in succession.
The qualifying was still a perfect result for Mercedes and kept the team on course to clinch their second successive constructors’ title.
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas qualified third for Mercedes-powered Williams, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen fourth and fifth.
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