Final practice for the Russian Grand Prix was cut short after a huge accident involving Carlos Sainz.
The FIA confirmed Sainz was conscious and talking to doctors after the accident before being stretchered away and airlifted to hospital. The crash occurred with 25 minutes remaining and the session was red flagged so that the medical team could extricate the Toro Rosso driver from his car.
He lost control in the kink ahead of Turn 13, hit the barriers on the inside at high speed and went head-on into Tec-Pro barriers on the other side of the run-off zone. The car was buried deep under the barriers, which had rode up over the cockpit, trapping Sainz inside.
A loss of power on the car meant the team was unable to contact Sainz by radio immediately after the accident, but the circuit doctors arrived quickly on the scene and Sainz gave a thumbs up from the stretcher as he was loaded into the ambulance. He has been taken to hospital for further checks.
"Following Carlos Sainz's accident during FP3 today in Sochi, the driver is perfectly conscious and was able to talk to the extrication team," a Toro Rosso team statement said. "Once out of the car he was taken to the circuit Medical Centre, where he underwent an initial assessment of his condition.
He has now been taken by air ambulance to the Sochi Hospital 4. Investigations on the reasons for the accident will take place once the car is back in the team's garage. Further information will be released by the team and the FIA to the media when it is available."
Nico Rosberg was fastest at the time of the accident and therefore finished the session on top. Although the thoughts of the paddock were with Sainz after the session, the shortened session means teams have very limited knowledge of how the slick tyres are working at Sochi. Rosberg's time was set on the super-soft compound and was 0.7s faster than Valtteri Bottas' Williams on the same compound and 0.8s quicker than team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton's quick laps were hampered by a lock up on his first attempt on super-soft tyres. The mistake at Turn 2 caused a slight flat spot on the tyre and he was unable to set a time to match Rosberg before the session was red flagged. Ferrari did not set a representative time in the 35 minutes of running, meaning Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen could still spring a surprise in qualifying but will be on the back foot without a qualifying simulation.