Sainz explains “rookie error” with pit bollard

2015 Japanese Grand Prix

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Carlos Sainz Jnr said his “rookie error” hitting the bollard at Suzuka’s pit entrance happened because he was trying to gain an advantage on Pastor Maldonado.

Sainz said it was “simply impossible to overtake the Lotus”, which he was running behind, so his team were trying to use his pit stop to get him in front.

“The team told me to do the opposite to Maldonado, and it looked like he was going to pit so I was meant to stay out on track,” Sainz explained. “But he suddenly continued on track and I was so aggressive on the turn into the pit entry that I hit the bollard and damaged my front wing.”

Sainz lost more time in his pit stop and fell behind Sergio Perez. The Toro Rosso driver said his rival was “slow in the corners but fast on the straights”.

“I destroyed my tyres behind him and in the end it was all about making sure I brought the car back home,” said Sainz. “The team did a very good job and I’m sure that we would’ve finished higher than P10 if it hadn’t been for my mistake – a rookie error that I will learn from.”

Despite his error Sainz believed it was one of his strongest performance so far.

“It was a good race until the mistake in the pit entry and I even think it was being one of my best races so far this year,” he said. “It was a good first stint on the [mediums] and an even better one on the [hards], I was really flying, catching the cars in front.”

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    Keith Collantine
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    14 comments on “Sainz explains “rookie error” with pit bollard”

    1. He seemed really slow on that last stint. Max made up 10s and still passed him and that makes Sainz look worse than his teammate.

      1. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
        27th September 2015, 11:23

        I believe Sainz did a 2-stop race, and his hard tyres had nothing left in them in the end. @deidunxf1
        Except for hitting the bollard Sainz had a solid race IMO.

        1. Max did soft-hard-soft, Sainz soft-hard-hard, bot three stops.

          Shocking to see how Sainz get’s eaten alive by Max a few races in a row

          1. Verstappen did 23 laps on those mediums, the kid (allowed for a few more days I suppose) can manage his tires.

          2. ColdFly F1 - @coldfly (@)
            27th September 2015, 19:22

            You’re right. I just though that Max was on a 3 stop, and had fresher tyres (we all know how poor the coverage was).
            But indeed they both had a 2-stopper, except for Max to pick the medium for the last stint; well done for him indeed!

      2. Sainz was behind Pérez after his stop and he couldn’t overtake him, so that’s why he lost so much time to Verstappen. He did, however, bin a 7th place finish with his pitlane mistake, which is a shame.

        1. I thought he could overtake Perez with ease, at least that is all I read last week. /s

          1. LOL.

        2. When Verstappen was in front of Sainz he pulled away and took a distance of a stagggering 16 seconds in just 10 laps…. and there wasn’t a Perez in between them at that time. Sainz gave away his race when he hit the bollard, he didn’t recover from that

          1. Unfortunately so. But I reckon Carlos is capable of so much more if Red Bull give him another season in STR. Besides, even if Carlos got the boot from the team, who could replace him? #KeepCarlos

            1. Ah, I see what you mean. Super license points…

              So, Andre Lotterer is the most qualified driver for F1 according to FIA ;-)

            2. I see no reason for STR to replace Sainz. He is doing more than well as a rookie.
              I will eat my shoe if Sainz no longer drivers for STR next year.

            3. I do not believe they will get rid of Carlos, he’s having a good rookie season, maybe overshadowed by Max but certainly better than Daniil last year.

              And a possible replacement would be Gasly, not an improvement over Carlos.

              If Max is still at Toro Rosso next year Carlos would be the best teammate to have, they both push each other, you can see both improved at lot this year, with Max turning out to be a real racer and Carlos slowly coming out of his shell.

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