Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz Jnr has been hospitalised after crashing during the final practice session at the Russian Grand Prix. The session was immediately red flagged as medics rushed to his aide, and after being extricated from the cockpit and transferred by a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, he gave fans the thumbs up to show he was not seriously hurt.
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With a huge impact into the tecpro barrier, the entire front end of the vehicle was buried underneath the auto.
“Carlos is conscious, he’s with the doctors now”.
Toro Rosso team chief Franz Tost said Sainz was conscious, but could not say if he was injured or explain what caused the accident.
Due to a loss of power on the vehicle there was also no communication available from pit to driver, preventing the team from getting an update on Sainz’s condition. We need the bale data for this. “He has talked to the doctor, so apparently we think it’s fine”, he told reporters at the trackside. “Whether he will be able to continue the race weekend or not we don’t know yet. He’s conscious, he’s talking and he even tried to remove his helmet on his own, so it’s good news”, said Bouciani. He has been taken to hospital for further checks.
“The auto got lost under breaking but we have to find out what was the correct reason”.
The drivers will head into qualifying later on Saturday with only 35 minutes of dry-practice running under their belts after both practice sessions were disrupted on Friday.
Occurring with 25mins of the session remaining, cranes were needed to lift the barriers and allow medical teams to tend to him.
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The session ended with German Nico Rosberg fastest in his Mercedes with a best time of one minute and 38.561 seconds ahead of Bottas and series leader and last year’s race victor defending two-time world champion Briton Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes.
