The Spaniard’s Las Vegas weekend was compromised by the water valve incident in practice, and after a 10-place grid penalty he was only able to secure sixth place on a day when team-mate Charles Leclerc fought for victory.
In Abu Dhabi he had a big crash in FP2 and, after a poor Q1 saw him start only 16th, Sainz gambled on two stints with the hard tyres waiting for a safety car. But this failed to pay off, and he tumbled out of the points when he headed to the pits on the penultimate lap.
Sainz duly finished seventh in the world championship, only six points shy of fourth place he'd occupied heading into the final round.
“It's been a decent year for me,” he said when asked by Autosport about his season. “I think we've had a more consistent year, we've shone a bit more.
“I'm not happy with these last two races, obviously. It puts a dark patch into my season where I think we've had a much stronger season than what these last two races show.
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“And the way everything has gone wrong for me in these last two races has been quite dramatic in a way, but it is what it is. Sometimes a year goes like this.
“Normally the end of the season is my biggest strength and this season, for some reason, it hasn't been the case.”
Source: Autosport