Carlos Sainz at centre of FIA investigation over Lance Stroll incident

Carlos Sainz could lose his third place on the grid for the Las Vegas Grand Prix after the FIA launched an investigation into an incident between the Williams driver and Lance Stroll.

Sainz has enjoyed an impressive second half of the F1 2025 season with Williams, claiming the team’s first podium finish since 2021 by finishing third at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku in September.

Carlos Sainz at risk of penalty as FIA investigates Lance Stroll incident at Las Vegas GP

The former Ferrari driver followed that up weeks later by equalling the result in the sprint race at the United States Grand Prix.

Sainz excelled in a rain-affected qualifying session in Las Vegas to secure third on the grid behind McLaren’s Lando Norris and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.

However, the Williams man faces a penalty for allegedly rejoining the track in an unsafe manner in the early stages of Q1 in Nevada.

Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon: Williams head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Sainz headed down the escape road after a mistake into Turn 5, the 90-degree right hander, in tricky conditions.

He rejoined as Stroll’s Aston Martin arrived on the scene, with the pair coming close to making contact.

Sainz and Stroll are both required to visit the stewards at 2125 local time in Las Vegas.

Appearing in the post-qualifying press conference, Sainz claimed that he tried to rejoin as safely as possible and minimise the time spent under yellow flags.

Asked to explain the incident, he said: “I went straight in Turn 5.

“I knew I was generating a yellow flag at the time and I was just trying to get the yellow flag to stop as soon as possible and get myself back onto the track.

“So because Lance had a yellow flag with me, I tried to rejoin as safely as I could and try to avoid giving more people a yellow flag in that sense.

“But I think were all on build ups [laps].

“We were all trying to get the tyres up to temperature, all doing mistakes.

“It was the beginning of Q1 when some people were still on inters, struggling to keep it on track, and that was me.

“Basically, visibility also was extremely poor.”

Sainz’s Williams teammate Alex Albon had a disappointing session in Las Vegas, suffering damage after a collision with the wall on his final Q1 lap. He is set to start the race from 16th.

Mercedes is also facing a trip to the stewards over a breach of the sporting regulations in qualifying, having allegedly failed to provide a set-up sheet to FIA technical director Jo Bauer.

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