Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsToro Rosso

Sainz ready for action after bruising Sochi weekend

Carlos Sainz insists he is fit and ready for action at this weekend's United States Grand Prix, despite the bruising he took at Sochi Autodrom two week ago.

Sains was airlifted to hospital after a dramatic crash in the final practice session on Saturday. Miraculously, he was not only completely unhurt but even able to take part in the following day's race - although that ended when he suffered brake failure and twice spun off the track.

Sainz admitted to experiencing some dizziness during the early laps of the race, but says that has had no lingering after effects since.

"After the weekend in Russia I flew back to Faenza to spend some time with the team, before going back home to see my family, as well as doing some work on the sim," he said. "I'm smiling and I feel good. I started training again straight away, as soon as I got home."

Now he heads to the Circuit of the Americas, and unlike his team mate Max Verstappen it's a track that he's never visited before.

"I don't know much about Austin because I've never been there and only driven it on the sim," he confirmed. "The track looks amazing and I think I will really enjoy it there, especially the first sector which looks very fast.

"From what I've heard, it's one of the best race weekends on the Formula One calendar. The whole city gets involved with Formula One - and I've been told there are some really good steakhouses!"

Toto Wolff exclusive interview: Behind the Mercedes dominance

Click here for analysis of the technical updates on display at the Russian Grand Prix

Click here for the F1 drivers' girlfriends gallery

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.