It is not a great moment for Carlos Sainz. After retiring on lap 2 in Australia, yesterday the Ferrari driver finished his qualifying for the Imola GP prematurely due to a crash at the Rivazza corner, which also cost him a close encounter with the wall. Today, Carlos Sainz will therefore have to start the Sprint race from the tenth position and will have a difficult task in recovering places for Sunday’s 2022 Emilia Romagna GP given the Imola track layout.
Meanwhile, his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc will line up on the front row, as he targets another interesting battle with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen, this time in front of the passionate Tifosi.
But what is happening to a driver who last year proved very consistent? Nico Rosberg, the 2016 Formula 1 world champion, tried to analyze the situation. Below is an excerpt of his comments as reported by Formel1.de.
“I think we need to see the situation here is that maybe the pressure is getting to him a little bit. Being in a Ferrari and fighting for race wins and championships all of a sudden is the ultimate pressure situation in Formula 1 – it doesn’t get tougher than that really, mentally. Maybe we’re seeing him having some difficulties with adjusting to that situation, especially having Leclerc [as his teammate], who is on fire at the moment and is performing so incredibly well. Maybe we’re seeing the stress get to him a little bit,” continued 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg – “He needs to figure that out and, of course, use those mistakes going forward. This has been a terrible start to the season so far, including this [qualifying crash].” – said Nico Rosberg, who knows all about inter-team duels, after he got the chance to race alongside world class drivers like Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton as his teammates.
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