Carlos Sainz: ‘I will be angry until I go to sleep’ after ‘disaster’ Australian Grand Prix qualifying

The Spaniard will start a lowly ninth after a series of unfortunate circumstances in Q3 in Australia

Carlos Sainz was left seething after qualifying in Australia. (Getty Images)

A furious Carlos Sainz says he will be ‘angry until I go to sleep’ after a disastrous final qualifying session left him starting ninth on the grid for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

F1 is racing at the Albert Park circuit for the first time since 2019 due to Covid-19 protocols, and Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc will be on pole after beating current world champion Max Verstappen to top spot by under under three tenths of a second.

Sainz’s crack at pole, though, was hampered by an issue with starting his car in the Ferrari garage, as well as crash for compatriot Fernando Alonso which was caused by a hydraulics issue on his Alpine and brought out the red flag.

Though Sainz will no doubt have the pace to challenge the likes of the McLaren and Mercedes cars ahead of him, his shot at a first Formula 1 victory has likely been extinguished.

“It was much better [than my final attempt], a normal lap,” Sainz said about the lap he was on shortly before the red flag was brought out after Alonso’s crash. That accident meant Sainz had one chance remaining after the re-start, but the Spaniard ran wide on his flying lap, blaming a technical error in the Ferrari garage for his lowly laptime.

“We couldn’t start the car and went out three minutes later than we wanted,” Sainz explained. “I didn’t have the time to prepare the lap, so I had to do it with freezing tyres. It was unlucky and everything went wrong because I was in the fight for pole.”

Team principal Mattia Binotto was seen attempting to comfort Sainz in the aftermath of the session, but Sainz said nothing could quell his anger until tomorrow morning.

“[Binotto] knows I’m angry because we shouldn’t have these problems with the starter,” Sainz said. “It was just a disaster. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. I’m not going to be happy because somebody tells me to. A good night’s sleep and go again tomorrow, but until I go to sleep I will be angry.”

The Australian Grand Prix will begin on Sunday 10 April at 6am in the UK.