Carlos Sainz welcomed Daniel Ricciardo apology for Imola crash

Sainz was unable to finish the race after the collision

Sainz didn’t finish the Imola race (AFP via Getty Images)

Carlos Sainz says he and his mechanics welcomed Daniel Ricciardo’s apology for their crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Sainz didn’t finish the race as a result of the collision but Ricciardo was able to continue, although he didn’t get into a point position. It was a frustrating end to Sainz’ weekend after he recovered an underwhelming qualifying in the sprint race to start fourth on the grid.

“It says much about Daniel as an athlete and as a sportsman that immediately after a race, where you could see he’s had a tough one, the first thing that he did was come in to the Ferrari box and apologise to me,”Sainz said per motorsport.com.

“There were the whole mechanics there with me and we all thanked him for the gesture. So that’s why there’s no hard feelings with Daniel’s because of what happened.

“It could happen to anyone out there today. But unfortunately, it had to happen to me, when I’m coming from the crash in Melbourne. So yeah, it’s how it is. The incident has really no mystery to it. I think if you see the onboard and what happened, it is very clear to everyone.”

It’s thought Ferrari will now prioritise Charles Leclerc if team decisions need to be made as Sainz is 48 points behind his teammate in the driver standings.

It will be a blow for the star who has just signed a contract extension at Mattia Binotto’s team. Sainz will race for Ferrari until 2024 and at the time of the announcement Binotto backed his driver pairing.

“I have said several times that I believe we have the best driver pairing in Formula 1 and so, with every passing race, it seemed a completely natural step to extend Carlos’ contract,” said Binotto.