Sainz out of F1 Belgian GP with exhaust failure

Carlos Sainz has been ruled out of the Belgian Grand Prix before it has even begun after suffering an exhaust failure on his McLaren Formula 1 car.

The Spaniard was due to line-up from seventh on the Spa-Francorchamps grid following a strong qualifying performance on Saturday, but he will now not take the start.

Sainz encountered the problem on his outlap on his way to the grid but reported to McLaren over team radio that “there’s smoke coming out of the car”.

Sainz returned to the McLaren garage but the team quickly discovered the problem in his MCL35 could not be fixed in time to start the Belgian Grand Prix.

“Carlos has exhaust failure and will not start the race,” a McLaren spokesperson confirmed shortly before the start of the race.

"Clarification that Carlos' DNS was due to a PU issue that led to exhaust failure, which we will investigate further after the race." 

It is the second time this season that a driver has failed to start a grand prix, after a technical issue prevented Nico Hulkenberg from starting the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on his surprise return to F1 with Racing Point.

Lewis Hamilton has also reported a drinks tube problem in his Mercedes W11, reporting “all the liquid went all over my face” on his way to the grid.

He will line-up on pole position with Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas alongside him with the Belgian Grand Prix gets underway at 15:10pm local time (14:10pm BST).

"There's smoke coming out of the car"@Carlossainz55 radios back to his engineers on his way to the grid and the Spaniard returns to the pits #BelgianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/4Ehgwg2SKJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 30, 2020

Unfortunately, @Carlossainz55 will not start the #BelgianGP after an exhaust failure on the way to the grid. pic.twitter.com/xXPYNJDrkk

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) August 30, 2020