The Spaniard lined up sixth on the grid following Charles Leclerc's formation lap retirement but lost out at the getaway to Sergio Perez and George Russell to slip to eighth by the time the race was red-flagged for a hefty Turn 1 shunt involving Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen.
Sainz then radioed to say his team needed to “bin” the clutch as he bemoaned start problems all weekend. He would later complain about the left gear shift paddle “sticking”.
The Singapore GP winner confirmed it was a faulty part rather than a calibration issue.
Asked by Autosport to explain his poor getaway, Sainz said: “[It was] the same as [Saturday] and the same as every single start that I've done this weekend.
“I’m very disappointed because it obviously cost us probably some points over the weekend.
“We had a problem since the beginning of practice. We weren’t able to really tune it and adapt it to the track and we have been struggling a lot with getaways and it's such a shame.”
Sainz added that launches had been a strength of Ferrari all season but realised quickly that the team was “struggling a lot”.
Source: Autosport