Toro Rosso, Verstappen: “Sorry about his retirement”

Twelfth place for Carlos Sainz in the Russian Grand Prix, fourth round of the 2016 Formula One World Championship. The Toro Rosso Spaniard was unable to take advantage of his teammate's retirement due to a small contact with Daniil Kvyat in the central part of the race, a factor which precluded him from the possibility of a points finish. A different story however for Max Verstappen, blocked by a mechanical problem with his STR11. A rather disappointing weekend for the Scuderia di Faenza which obviously hopes to make up for it in the next round in Barcelona.

Here are the words of Carlos Sainz: “What an unfortunate race. Despite making one of my best starts ever, a piece of another car got stuck in the side, causing me to lose downforce during my first stint and also forcing me to stop too early to pit and change to the Softs. . This compromised my second stint and then I also received a 10 second penalty... Now it's time to put what happened to bed, prepare for my home race - which always gives me an extra push - and return stronger than ever!"

Here are Max Verstappen's impressions: “Unfortunately today I had to retire, while I was in sixth position. Up until that point it felt like a great race, I was keeping my pace and I didn't have any pressure on me; I followed the riders in front of me and we had a good pace. We were able to preserve the tires without any problems and I must say that I was quite relaxed: everything was going smoothly and I was managing the situation in the best way... Who knows how it could have gone! Of course, it's disappointing to be forced to stop the car, but this is a sport where mechanics count and these things happen. Now we just have to take advantage of the positive aspects of the weekend and prepare for the first European race of the season, in Spain, in two weeks."

Roberto Valenti