Pole-sitter Sainz says he 'paid the price again' after suffering sixth DNF of the season in United States Grand Prix start

Carlos Sainz said it was “frustrating and disappointing” to suffer his sixth DNF of the season as he was tapped into a spin and out of the 2022 United States Grand Prix from pole position.

The Spaniard was jumped by Max Verstappen at the start of the race and, going into Turn 1, Sainz was swiped by the Mercedes of George Russell. The Briton took a five-second penalty after Sainz dived back into the pits to retire from the race in Austin.

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Sainz rued his luck after suffering his second-straight retirement.

“I think driver mistakes are driver mistakes, and the problem is that I paid a price again and it follows a bit the trend of the whole year with Lap 1, that it doesn’t allow me to do the race and doesn’t allow me to fight for the win, or doesn’t allow me to keep learning from the car, which is extremely frustrating and disappointing,” he said.

The Ferrari driver said that his most recent DNF continued a trend that has stretched over the season. Sainz retired from the Australian, Emilia Romagna, Azerbaijan, Austria and most recently the Japanese and US Grands Prix.

“There’s been so many races where I don’t even complete one lap, so that is also difficult to make a step forward on race days, which shows how frustrated I am and how my year has been because the speed is there, but it’s been just a very poor year in terms of luck and things happening,” he said at the Circuit of The Americas on Sunday.

Sainz’s sole victory of the season came at Silverstone, with Ferrari ahead of Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.