Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz recently crashed at turn 15 in the second free practice of the 2023 F1 Monaco GP. Turn 15 is one of the most difficult parts of the circuit, where an F1 car needs to be close enough to the barriers to nail the next turn's kerb but far enough so that the tire does not clip the barrier, causing the suspension to break.
Unfortunately, during the second practice session, Carlos Sainz turned in a bit too much at turn 15, causing the front wing end plate and his front right tire to bash the barriers. This caused the suspension system to break, eventually causing him to crash at the exit of turn 16. The Spaniard had to retire the car as the session was red-flagged.
After witnessing the crash, several fans took to Twitter and reacted to the crash. Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz's teammate at Ferrari, has also crashed in the exact same manner.
However, that crash occurred during the Q3 qualifying session of the 2021 F1 Monaco GP. Though he was luckily in pole position, he completely ruined the right side of the car and broke his front wing during the crash.
Hence, several fans stated that Sainz wanted to become Leclerc for a day and replicate the exact accident. Some of them even made some negative comments, calling Leclerc 'LeCrash', due to his unfortunate history with crashes.
"Learned well from LeCrash," one fan wrote.
Thankfully, Sainz crashed during a practice session, which will not affect his lap times and position in qualifying and race sessions. However, Ferrari will have a huge work cut out for them as they try to quickly fix the car before the next practice session on Saturday.
F1 pundit feels Carlos Sainz is less intuitive than Charles Leclerc
F1 correspondent Mark Hughes explains how Carlos Sainz is struggling in the 2023 F1 season with the Ferrari SF-23. Speaking on The Race F1 podcast, he initially explained how Sainz gradually increased his pace during the 2021 and 2022 F1 seasons. However, he once again took a step back in 2023. Hughes said:
"It's a bit disappointing, isn't it? As in, 22 and 21, he started a little bit on the backfoot, but, by this time in the previous seasons, he worked his way back on the pace. But there is something about this car which is preventing that."
Furthermore, he explained the difficulties with the Ferrari SF-23 and how Carlos Sainz is not as intuitive and adaptive as Charles Leclerc. He concluded:
"He says he understands it, but is just finding it difficult to do. High-speed rear stability is the problem with his car, it's inconsistent downforce, so it is easily disturbed by difference attitudes or roll, pitch, or wind, and he's of an intuitive driver than Charles Leclerc."
As of now, Sainz is ahead of his teammate in the drivers' championship table. He is in fifth place with 44 points in his pocket.