On the Spanish circuit this week, the new Ferrari driver was alleged to have crashed the mule car, which was specially modified for testing the new 18-inch F1 wheels. 

When asked by RaceFans.net, Sainz said: "Obviously Pirelli testing is completely private so answering questions that are coming from somewhere else is difficult for me because I don’t know how much we can tell contractually about what happened in the test. But if something happened, that I’m not going to tell you, it was very minor.”

According to Pirelli, on Monday, Charles Leclerc covered 110 laps in Jerez, and on Tuesday, the two drivers did a total of 85 laps together. 

His first impression of the tyres that are expected to be released for the 2022 F1 season inspired Sainz. 

According to Sainz, "The first signs for me are, at least personally the first impression, has been positive, actually. It has been relatively positive, still taking into account how young the project of the 18-inch, and how little testing we’ve done so far." 

He continued, "You can definitely start feeling some differences. There’s definitely some things still to keep developing but the first signs and the first feeling has been relatively positive. We need to wait until you fit those tyres into next year’s car which is going to be quite a completely different animal. But the first impressions with the mule car et cetera has been positive.”

Last year, Pirelli started its 18-inch tyre test program, but was forced to delay it due to the disruption caused by the pandemic. Leclerc also chimes in that he was pleased with how the test went. 

Leclerc comments, "“I have the same opinion as Carlos on the tyres."

He added: “We’ve tried different things and to be honest there are some positive things that came out of it. So this is is good. I believe that there is still quite a bit of work but it went in the right direction and this is a good thing.”