“To be honest we were just fighting the whole race with cars that were quicker than us,” Sainz reflected after the Grand Prix. “A bit frustrating because you are there with them, you try to stay with them, but then you deg your tyres more trying to keep up with them because you are pushing a bit harder.
“And then I started to go backwards after giving it a shot to staying with them. It got a bit hectic at one point with Yuki, sent a big one down the inside and then exiting Turn 1 I think he lost the rear and touched me.
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“It cost me the damage and then from then on I had a second to a second and a half of car damage, so I had to retire.
“[It’s a] bit of a shame, because at points it looked like we could have a good haul of points for the first time in the year, but we still lack a bit of pace and we still need to improve a few things, but we are on the right track.”
.webp?ssl=1 "James Hinchcliffe picks his top five drivers of the 2026 Formula 1 season so far")
