Carlos Sainz Jnr left his girlfriend with her hands on her head after spinning out following a dramatic battle with Haas driver Oliver Bearman at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon.
The Williams driver was embroiled in a heated fight for 13th position with Bearman as the iconic race in Monza entered its final 12 laps.
As the pair approached turn four on the circuit, with Sainz slightly in front, the rookie attempted to dive down the inside of the Spaniard’s car.
Bearman’s front wing made contact with the Williams, and both cars proceeded to spin out as debris flew onto the track.
Despite the collision, the two of them managed to keep their cars going and were back racing within a matter of seconds, although they lost crucial positions to racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar, who took advantage of the incident.
It all proved a little much for Sainz’s long-term partner, Rebecca Donaldson, as the cameras showed the model looking concerned while watching from the Williams garage.
Carlos Sainz Jnr’s girlfriend Rebecca Donaldson (left) was at the Italian Grand Prix to support her partner
Sainz Jnr (left) and Haas’ Oliver Bearman (right) collided on lap 41 of the race in Monza
Donaldson was shown with her hands on her head on Sky Sports after the incident occurred
Sainz and Donaldson largely aim to keep their relationship away from the spotlight, but Scot has been seen in the paddock cheering on her boyfriend in Australia and Monaco, in addition to Italy.
The pair first became an item in June 2023, and the 29-year-old, who has over 650,000 Instagram followers, turned up to Monza alongside her beau on race day in a gorgeous white dress.
Donaldson and Sainz were first seen together in Milan two years ago; then, fans started to think they were an item when they appeared at a golf course in Amsterdam in August of the same year.
One of Sainz’s sisters began following her on Instagram, adding fuel to speculation about a romance, before Donaldson took to the catwalk at Madrid Fashion Week last month in front of members of the driver’s family.
While the pair haven’t posted any shots of themselves together on their social media, they do comment on each other’s posts regularly.
Donaldson has appeared on the covers of high-end fashion magazines like Vogue and Marie Claire since winning a beauty pageant aged 17, when she was a student at the prestigious Perth Academy, dreaming of breaking into the fashion industry.
‘My mum entered me and I was really surprised when I found out,’ she said at the time.
‘I am really excited to have won and am really looking forward to entering the Top Model UK competition.’
The Scottish model, 29, turned up to the grand prix in a gorgeous white long dress
Donaldson has worked with fashion magazines like Vogue and Marie Claire during her career
The fashion model (pictured in Saudi Arabia) has been dating Sainz Jnr since June 2023
Donaldson was first linked to Keeping Up With The Kardashians star and Kourtney Kardashian’s ex Scott Disick when the pair attended the premiere of a new series of the show in 2022.
They dated for two months before splitting up in June of that year. She founded the activewear fashion label Muse in 2020 during the pandemic, explaining: ‘I knew I wanted to create something that not only I would wear and be proud of putting my name against, but also something that was missing from the market.’
Meanwhile, four-time world champion Max Verstappen was imperious in Italy, taking the chequered flag in gloriously pugnacious style, winner by a mammoth 19.2seconds.
Verstappen was also involved in some dramatic action during the race, which came at the start.
The Dutchman was cleanly away from his finely sculpted pole position. Lando Norris, second on the grid, was perhaps even brisker off the line. With the track contracting as grass juts out along the start straight beyond the pit lane, Norris’s wheels veered onto the verge. Soil was thrown up into the air.
Into the first chicane, Rettifilo, the two men contested the lead. Verstappen cut the corner with nowhere to go and returned to the road in first place.
‘What the %^&$!’ exclaimed Norris. ‘What is this idiot doing? Come on! He’s put me in the grass and then he’s cut the corner.’
Verstappen protested innocence over his detour: ‘He’s let the brakes go on purpose.’
He was told to hand the place back and obliged at the start of the second lap. But, wriggling like an eel, Verstappen went outside and then inside at Rettifilo to make the decisive pass on lap four, en route to his first win since Imola in May.
