Sainz ‘cannot explain’ Sao Paulo crashes as Leclerc admits weekend was 'damage limitation' for Ferrari

Carlos Sainz says he “cannot explain” how he crashed twice on Sunday at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as both he and Charles Leclerc labelled the SF-24 as difficult to drive in wet conditions.

Sainz crashed out of Q2 at Turn 2 at Interlagos on Sunday morning and was forced to start the race from the pit lane after Ferrari had to undertake component changes outside of the parc ferme regulations.

The Spaniard made gradual progress through the course of the race but spun into the wall at Turn 8 on Lap 38, bringing his afternoon to a premature conclusion, one weekend after dominating the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole position.

READ MORE: Norris rues ‘unlucky’ pit stop timing in Sao Paulo as he vows team will ‘keep our heads down’ despite title setback

“I had two crashes that I honestly cannot explain very well,” he said. “It’s very unpredictable, this car this year has been extremely difficult to drive in the wet.

“At the same time apologies for the team for the two mistakes and obviously it cost us, but starting from the pit lane it’s not like we were going to get a lot of points, so, yeah, we’ll turn the page and come back stronger.”

To add to Sainz's woes, he was called to see the stewards after the race, and handed a reprimand for 'dangerous driving'. Replays showed that after removing the steering wheel following his crash, he then reattached it and attempted to get going – despite the marshals already starting to recover his car.

He admitted he wasn't aware the marshals had started their procedures, on what was a trying day for his side of the garage.

As for his team mate, Leclerc finished the race in fifth place but is now mathematically out of contention for the drivers’ championship. Leclerc did manage to do what many could not in keeping a charging Max Verstappen at bay for a handful of laps mid-race, and also managed to keep Lando Norris behind late on.

READ MORE: Verstappen reflects on ‘absolutely crazy’ Sao Paulo GP after sublime climb from P17 to victory as he extends title lead

But he paid the price for stopping early for a second set of intermediate tyres, and coming out in traffic cost him dear.

“On one side, we were just not fast enough: the car was extremely difficult to drive and very, very pointy, very digital, very oversteery, and it was very difficult to drive,” Leclerc said.

“On the other hand, I felt with what we had we did more or less the best we could do. If you look at the top three, I think these are the three drivers that put no foot wrong on such a long race and this is very difficult and they deserve to be on the podium.

“On our side we paid the price a lot in the first stop; we stopped too early and ended up in the traffic and that cost us three to four positions and to then come back from that was very difficult.

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“P5 in front of both McLarens is at least a damage limitation where we only lose four points to them today – as it could have been a lot worse.”

Ferrari preserved second in the constructors’ championship and faces a 36-point deficit to McLaren, but have seen their advantage over Red Bull cut to just 13 points.