Sometimes your luck just isn’t in, and that very much seems to be the case of Carlos Sainz this season.
The Spaniard has been impressive for Ferrari, winning his first race in Silverstone earlier this year, and going punch for punch with his teammate Charles Leclerc.
This is when he manages to stay in the race, however, with the Spaniard having to retire from multiple races this season, just when things look good, most often because of situations out of his control.
He was hit by Daniel Ricciardo in Imola, his car caught fire in Austria, he spun out at the start in Japan, just before the race was red flagged for being too wet, and most recently he was T-boned and forced to retire on the opening lap in Austin after starting on pole.
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Last weekend came as a real hit to the 28-year-old, with Leclerc and Perez taking engine penalties and starting on pole, Sainz looked set for a strong chance of winning the race if he could hold off Max Verstappen, only for him to be hit by George Russell into Turn 1 giving him terminal damage.
Sainz has admitted that he is in one of the toughest periods of his career so far, with so much out of his control going against him.
“It was, for sure, one of the toughest moments of the season and was very disappointing, because after doing a perfect weekend up until then, for your race to be ruined by something out of your control is really tough.
“It has also been a few times this year which makes it frustrating not to do races because it is what we go to all these places to do.
“But it is how it goes sometimes in motorsport or in life. You go through rough patches and other easier one. And it feels like this year, everything that could happen to me is happening.
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“I hope that I get them all out of the way this year to have a smooth [season] next year.”
You could hear the sadness and frustration in Sainz’s voice as he climbed out of the car on Sunday, and he remains frustrated, believing that Russell got off lightly with only a five-second penalty for taking a competitor out of the race.
“I think that the FIA also was maybe a bit easy on him for the consequences that happened,” he said, speaking about the race at the Circuit of the Americas.