Autobayng News Team
Carlos Sainz Jnr says Formula 1’s guidelines on driving standards have made stewards more likely to issue penalties.
Drivers are due to meet FIA representatives this weekend to discuss the enforcement of the series’ racing rules.
The FIA introduced its guidelines on how racing rules are policed in 2022 and published the current version in June in order to help fans understand why penalties are issued. The stewards have often cited the guidelines in their decisions but Sainz says some of the more contentious rulings require further scrutiny.
“First we need to sit together and analyse quite a few of the incidents that I think there’s been quite a lot of division on in opinion between drivers and FIA stewards,” he said in today’s FIA press conference. “There’s just different ways to judge different incidents.
“This year there’s been quite a bit of confusion regarding a few of them. I think we need to sit together and go through them and analyse them calmly out of the heat of the moment, like we are now on a Thursday before a race and try to all hopefully come up with a better solution for the future.”
Sainz, who is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, says he personally feels fewer collisions are being deemed “racing incidents” due to the guidelines.
“My personal opinion – and here I’m not talking from a GPDA perspective, I’m just talking as Carlos Sainz – is that there is potential to do better,” he said. “I think the guidelines themselves have created more problems than solutions to a lot of issues that have happened this year in the ways we judge incidents.
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“There’s been barely any room for racing incidents this year, there’s always been either white or black because we’ve been supported by the guidelines.
“The guidelines haven’t allowed racing incidents to be judged as racing incidents because there was always a tyre in front or behind a mirror or a tyre in front or behind a front or rear tyre, whatever their guidelines say – I don’t know them by heart.
“For me it’s been, in that sense, a bit of an unsuccessful implementation of those guidelines. But that’s what we need to discuss, that’s what we need to sit together and see if there’s any other solution.”
Williams successfully challenged one decision which went against Sainz at the Dutch Grand Prix earlier this year. He was given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his licence for a collision with Liam Lawson. The stewards rescinded Sainz’s penalty points after Williams requested a review of the decision, but were unable to cancel the time penalty he served in the race.
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Sainz’s penalties and investigations for on-track incidents in 2025
| Event | Session | Infringement | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese Grand Prix | Qualifying | Unnecessarily impeded Hamilton in turn one. | Grid drop |
| Bahrain Grand Prix | Grand prix | Forced Antonelli off the track at turn 10. | 10 second time penalty |
| Canadian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Overtook under Safety Car conditions after the chequered flag. | Warning |
| British Grand Prix | Second practice | Drove in a manner potentially dangerous to other drivers. | Warning |
| Dutch Grand Prix | Grand prix | Caused a collision with Lawson at turn one. | 10 second time penalty (subsequently rescinded) |
| Italian Grand Prix | Grand prix | Did not use the escape road at turns four and five after missing turn four. | Reprimand |
| United States Grand Prix | Grand prix | collided with Antonelli in turn 15. | Grid drop |
| Las Vegas Grand Prix | Qualifying | Went off the track at turn five and rejoined as Stroll was approaching. | No action |
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2025 Qatar Grand Prix
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