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Mark Webber shares Oscar Piastri theory about Carlos Sainz’s Q3 crash during the Singapore Grand Prix

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Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had a final qualifying session at the Singapore Grand Prix to forget as he failed to set a time before finding himself wedged in the barriers at the final corner.

Both Ferrari drivers will want to quickly move on from what happened in Q3 as they both look set to start alongside each other from the fifth row of the grid.

Carlos Sainz was preparing for his first flying lap before spinning into the barriers heading into the final corner.

It brought out the red flag and that played a role in Charles Leclerc failing to do better than 9th as he marginally went outside of the track limits and had his final lap deleted.

F1 Grand Prix Of Singapore - Qualifying
Photo by Pauline Ballet – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

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Sainz comes into the Singapore Grand Prix off the back of a disappointing ending to the previous race in Baku.

Sergio Perez and Sainz collided on the penultimate lap and cost each other a chance of finishing on the podium.

Oscar Piastri went on to win that race and reflecting on the session on Channel 4, Mark Webber and David Coulthard wondered whether the young Australian played a small part in Sainz’s crash.

Piastri was completing his first flying lap just before Sainz started his and while he only managed to qualify 5th, Sainz had to let the 23-year-old pass before starting his own effort.

READ MORE: Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

That may have played a role in the Ferrari going rear wing first into the barriers as he picked up some turbulent air as he put his foot down.

Mark Webber explains how Oscar Piastri might have influenced Carlos Sainz’s Singapore Grand Prix crash

Reflecting on the incident, Webber said: “It was weird, very, very weird for a driver to crash opening a lap.

“He looked pretty tight with Oscar, Oscar was closing his lap, so he might have got a little bit of disturbance there off the back of the McLaren as he started to pick the throttle up and go through the last corner.

“He was so sideways and then it just came back on him and after that it’s curtains, straight in the wall, qualy over.

“A very weird accident and a Ferrari damaged.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Oscar Piastri’s life outside F1 from height to girlfriend

Coulthard continued: “I think that it was such a tank slapper, he was surprised, he was completely, ‘What’s just happened?’

“He did go off-line to let Oscar overtake and maybe it was just a lot dustier when he came back on-line and tried to open the lap.

“It’s not even a rookie error; I didn’t even crash on an out-lap, I don’t think. So a big frustration for them, especially as Charles as well didn’t manage to qualify the car.”

Nico Rosberg surprised by simple Ferrari error during the Singapore Grand Prix

Ferrari will be wondering how they managed to get things so wrong on Saturday after a promising set of practice sessions on Friday.

Nico Rosberg lamented an error from Ferrari during qualifying that meant Leclerc was always going to struggle to compete with the likes of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Frederic Vasseur’s team have given themselves an outside shout of winning the Constructors’ Championship with some brilliant performances since the summer break, in particular from Leclerc.

Red Bull are floundering and even though Verstappen put his car on the front row, Perez starts the race outside of the top ten.

Leclerc and Sainz should have been fighting for victory heading into Sunday’s race. Instead, they’ll have to navigate their way around the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso.