Why Sainz received penalty he called “the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life”

Carlos Sainz Jnr was deeply unimpressed with the stewards’ decision to penalise him for his collision with Liam Lawson during the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Williams driver was stunned when his race engineer Gaetan Jego told him he had been given a 10-second time penalty for the incident at Tarzan.

“Who gets a penalty? Me?” he asked. “Are you joking? You’re joking. I mean, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life.”

The stewards ruled Sainz did not get sufficiently alongside Lawson as he tried to pass the Racing Bulls driver on the way into the corner.

“Car 55 [Sainz] was attempting to overtake car 30 [Lawson] on the outside of turn one,” the stewards explained. “The front axle of car 55 was not ahead of the front axle of car 30 at the apex of turn one.

“Car 55 attempted to stay on the outside of car 30 and a collision occurred. We considered that car 30 had the right to the corner and therefore car 55 was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision.

“As is standard for a collision of this nature and as prescribed under the guidelines, we imposed a 10-second time penalty on car 55.”

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The stewards also gave Sainz two penalty points on his licence, which puts him on a total of four.

After the race Sainz remained convinced Lawson was to blame for the collision, accusing him of causing a collision to avoid being overtaken.

“I suffered an incident that cost me another 10 points in the championship when I was executing one of my best weekends of the year,” Sainz told the official Formula 1 channel. “That’s frustration number one.

“Frustration number two is racing a guy that – it’s not the first time that we see him exposing himself to having an incident with another driver just to make sure there’s not even a side-by-side action or a side-by-side movement.

“I’ve raced multiple guys around this track in turn one and multiple quality guys that allow for a side-by-side movement like that in a beautiful corner like in Zandvoort turn one. Today I chose to have that side-by-side line with someone that prefers not to have it and prefers to risk an incident and risk losing so many points when the other car is on a podium.

“So it’s very frustrating, very disappointing. But on top of that to get a 10-second penalty is something unacceptable, something that I don’t understand, something I need explanation [for].”

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While the stewards ruled on Sainz’s incident immediately, they chose to wait until after the race to rule on another between Charles Leclerc and George Russell, in order to speak to the drivers. Sainz is frustrated he hasn’t had the opportunity to do the same.

“I’m planning to talk to both [the stewards and Lawson],” he said. “I would rather do it with some piece of video in front of me. I’ve already reviewed it myself and I’ve seen what I had to see.

“But the most confusing part is the FIA always tells us that the doors are open to go and see the stewards and to consult any kind of doubts. I just received a message that they don’t want to, they would rather not talk to me right now.

“I don’t know where this comes from, but it’s not like I’m going to do anything because I’m just trying to get an explanation.”

However Lawson said Sainz clearly deserved a penalty by the letter of the rules. “It just sucks for both of us,” he said. “It’s obviously not my intention but it’s lap one [after] a restart and we have very low grip going into turn one and the rules are written as they are.

“We all know how they’re written so as much as we sometimes don’t agree with it, I’ve been on the receiving end of it as well this year and I disagree with it as well, but it is something that, that’s how they are. For it to be his corner he has to be ahead at the apex. He wasn’t anywhere near that today so that’s why he got a penalty for it, I’m guessing. But it just sucks for us.”

You say

What did you think of Sainz’s penalty? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.

Sainz’s penalty for causing a collision with Lawson was:

• No opinion (4%)
• Far too lenient (0%)
• Slightly too lenient (0%)
• Correct (12%)
• Slightly too harsh (19%)
• Far too harsh (65%)

Total Voters: 107

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