Carlos Sainz Jr admits he is sad to be making his F1 debut without Fernando Alonso on the grid.
The Toro Rosso rookie has made no secret of the fact that Alonso is his hero, inspiring him to chase a career in F1 having watched the McLaren driver win consecutive world championships for Renault in 2005 and 2006. However, a crash in pre-season testing has seen Alonso ruled out of the opening race at least, and Sainz Jr admits it will make his debut slightly less special.
“To be honest it was a big shock to suddenly receive the news that he was not going to race here in Australia,” Sainz Jr said. “I didn’t consider a debut in Formula One without Fernando Alonso on track and now I have do it.
“Obviously it’s not nice but on the other hand I must say I’m quite happy for Kevin [Magnussen]. He clearly deserves another chance to show himself. I really rate him highly, I’ve seen a lot of data from [Formula Renault] 3.5 from him.
“So I’m obviously very sad for Fernando, I really hope he can come back for Malaysia, we can race together, we can take a picture together at the start, but on the other hand when I saw Kevin was coming back in to F1 he deserves it also.”
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