Another Uphill Start
Free practices continue to be cursed for Carlos Sainz and Ferrari. In Las Vegas, it was a poorly fixed manhole that ruined the entire weekend for the Spanish driver, forcing him, against his will, to swallow a 10-position grid penalty. In the grand finale in Abu Dhabi, this time during the FP2 session, the Madrid native once again found himself with the car disintegrated, but this time due to his own mistake.
Carlos Sainz, in fact, lost control of the SF-23 in the first section of the circuit, perhaps annoyed – as he explained via radio after the impact – by the turbulence produced by a car that was ahead of him. However, television images lean toward the hypothesis of a bump not well absorbed by the bottom of the Ferrari, causing Sainz to lose control of the car during the change of direction.
Left side disintegrated
The #55 from Maranello was unable to contain the skid at the rear of his car and ended his run against the barriers, destroying the left side of the car. Certainly, there will be a lot of work for the mechanics, in view of tomorrow’s day. The danger, furthermore – but at the moment, it is still early to make predictions – is that the damage may lead to interventions that could force the team to incur a new grid penalty.
Certainly, this incident is not the best way to start a weekend that is important for the team led by Frederic Vasseur, who is competing for the second position in the championship with Mercedes. The session experienced a long interruption with the flag to allow marshals to safely remove Carlos Sainz’s car from the barriers.
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