Carlos Sainz was killed in Q1 yesterday during qualifying at the Yas Marina Circuit. The Spaniard will therefore have to start the race from P16, but Sainz mainly came up with a remarkable explanation for his exit in Q1.
“As a driver we know that if you take a corner two seconds ahead of another car, about two seconds, you will lose the other car about two tenths in that corner,” Sainz complains. “As the race weekends have gone by I’ve seen more and more riders doing it.”
“When it is very close in Q1 and Q2, you see drivers deliberately give some ‘dirty air’ in the corners, so that the other drivers lose some time in the corners.”
“We don’t see that as stopping because it’s not like you have to take your foot off the gas. But you know that you give the other car ‘dirty air’ and that means he has a bad run in that corner.”
“By being the last to take to the track in Q1, I drove very close to the cars in front of me in the first and second corners, losing several tenths in the corners.”
“I think everyone does it, when you position yourself in a bad position on the track you suffer a lot. It’s tricky.”