Russian GP: Practice halted after big Sainz accident

Final practice for the Russian Grand Prix was cut short after a huge accident involving Carlos Sainz.

Nearly a year to the day since Jules Bianchi’s fatal accident, Formula One breathed an enormous sigh of relief on Saturday as another one of the sport’s young stars gave the thumbs up after a monumental accident.

Sainz appeared to lose control under-braking going into turn 13, hit a wall and went straight on into the tec-pro safety barriers.

The mistake at Turn 2 caused a slight flat spot on the tyre and he was unable to set a time to match Rosberg before the session was red flagged.

The session was immediately halted while marshals and the medical team could attend to Sainz, with the Spaniard firstly being taken to the medical centre before being airlifted to hospital.

“Carlos is conscious and he is with the doctors now and they will look at him”, Tost said.

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost told Sky Sports F1 the driver was “conscious” and that a decision would be taken later on whether he could play any further part in the race weekend.

“If he is able to continue the race or not we don’t yet. He is now with the doctors and we will find what his condition okay”. We need the bale data for this.

“He is conscious, he is talking, and he even tried to remove his helmet on his own”.

The session was not continued owing to the long process of removing the driver from the auto.

“We lost the power on the auto so we don’t know”, his team replied.

As a result, few of the drivers had any real experience or information from the three practice sessions after Friday’s two practice sessions were ruined by a diesel spillage and then torrential rain. Cranes were used to lift the barrier sections off the vehicle before Sainz was placed into an ambulance on a stretcher.