Sainz out of F1 Austrian GP after formation lap disaster

Carlos Sainz is out of the Austrian Grand Prix before it has even began, as he couldn’t get his Williams Formula 1 car moving for the formation lap.

“Something is stopping the car from moving forward,” he reported over team radio as his car became stuck in first gear.

He forced the car into neutral before being able to start driving the lap to head back to the pits. As the polesitter Lando Norris had completed his own formation lap, the start was aborted.

As Sainz made his way to the end of the pitlane, the rear brakes of the Williams machine set on fire. The team confirmed that the 30-year-old driver’s race was already over and he jumped out of the car. 

“Car 55 returns to the garage and he’s out of the car,” the Grove outfit explained via the live blog. “He isn’t going to take the start of this race. We’re down to one car.”

Sky Sports F1 analyst and former driver Karun Chandhok commented, “That is such a deflating moment for the drivers. I had that a couple times in my career.

“You do all your pre-race prep then something goes wrong. It’s like a massive balloon that just goes pop, not just for Sainz but all of the engineers.”

While waiting for the delayed start, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso claimed that his “seat is 200 degrees” and George Russell asked Mercedes to make sure there is plenty of water available as the mechanics are “dripping.”

“I cannot tell you the temperature of the seat. It’s maybe, I don’t know, 200 degrees,” Alonso reported.

Sainz’s Williams team-mate Alex Albon has started from 12th.