Carlos Sainz unhurt after heavy crash in Russian GP practice

Toro Rosso driver Carlos Sainz has escaped unhurt from a nasty accident at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was taken to hospital in Sochi after smashing into barriers at Turn 13, approached at 200mph
Sainz posted a tweet saying: "All OK. Nothing to worry about. Already thinking about how to convince the drivers to be on the grid tomorrow."
There was no immediate information on what had caused him to lose control on one of the fastest parts of the track.

What Happened?

Sainz's team said that they did not yet know what had caused the accident, but initial indications were that it was not a car failure.
The 21-year-old lost control and glanced the outside concrete barrier as he braked through the difficult kink before Turn 13, which is approached at more than 200mph.
The car glanced along the wall, leaving a series of tyre marks, before spearing straight across the run-off area and into the barriers.

Safety concerns

Sainz gave a thumbs up as he was stretchered into a medical vehicle

Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko, who is in charge of the junior driver programme at the Toro Rosso team, told BBC Sport he was concerned that the car had ended up under the plastic, water-filled Tecpro barriers.
BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard added that the incident would again raise the debate about additional driver head-protection in F1.
Governing body the FIA is conducting tests into this area but has so far not yet found a solution that retains F1's open-cockpit nature while not raising other safety concerns.
Former Jordan, Jaguar and Stewart technical director Gary Anderson added that he felt the accident raised concerns about the the lower noses that were introduced into F1 last year with the aim of improving safety.
Anderson said the accident underlined fears about cars 'submarining' under bodies they collide with, whether that be other cars or barriers, as a result of the lower noses.
However, the lower noses were introduced after extensive research by the FIA and with the aim of reducing the danger to drivers when a car's nose crashes side-on into the cockpit of another car, in a so-called T-bone accident.

Reaction from the paddock

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner added: "The horrible thing is that he was stuck in the car with the barrier on top of him - very claustrophobic."
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso, a close friend of Sainz, said: "The manager texted us before qualifying to say Carlos wants to have dinner with us tonight, and we said OK, the table will be ready. If he can't make it, we postpone it until tomorrow. It is good that he is OK."