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Sainz: relationship with Kvyat has 'healed' since Silverstone

There have been a number of spats between team mates during the first half of 2017. Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat were among those to have a public falling out.

The pair collided in the opening lap of the British Grand Prix last month. Kvyat lost traction on lap 1 exiting Becketts and washed out into the side of Sainz' car. The incident led to a war of words between the two.

"It started already with issues in qualifying," Sainz told the Formula 1 website this week.

"I wanted to put everything into the race. Retiring on lap one from something out of your control is sure not how you want to end a race weekend!

"It is a situation that can happen once in a lifetime," he added. "It happened in Silverstone – and I hope that was my 'one time.'"

The concern was that the clash could prove to be terminal. Many feared it could make it impossible for Sainz and Kvyat to work together in future.

"In that very moment it sure was a 'killer,'" Sainz agreed. "But time smooths things - the classic saying that time is a great healer

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"After one or two weeks you are able to turn the page and stop thinking about it," he explained. "We are both mature enough to be able to turn the page.

"We know each other very well and for many years – we had similar situations in lower categories," he pointed out, adding that it was time to "move on to new shores!

"The team is doing its job by telling the two of us that they are not happy about it," he admitted. "And trying to make sure that it does not happen again."

Sainz and Kvyat may need to rub along for a whole further season in 2018, with Toro Rosso looking determined to keep both drivers.

The Spanish driver got into trouble in July after appearing to suggest that he wanted to leave the team at the end of the year if he didn't get his long-awaited promotion to the senior Red Bull team.

Red Bull and Toro Rosso responded by pointed out that they have a contract to retain him for another year.

"It is my one and only target to be a Red Bull driver in the future," Sainz said subsequently.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.