FIA announces Carlos Sainz decision after Las Vegas Grand Prix investigation
Williams driver Carlos Sainz in the paddock at the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix
Williams driver Carlos Sainz has escaped a penalty following an incident with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in Las Vegas Grand Prix qualifying, the FIA has announced.
Sainz qualified an impressive third in a rain-affected qualifying session in Nevada, but found his place on the grid under threat following a near miss with Stroll in Q1.
Carlos Sainz escapes FIA penalty after Lance Stroll incident in Las Vegas GP qualifying
The Williams driver made a mistake and went straight on at Turn 5, the 90-degree right hander, in tricky conditions in Q1.
In his attempt to rejoin the track, Sainz came close to making contact with Stroll.
Sainz was summoned to the stewards, along with a Williams team representative, for allegedly rejoining the track in an unsafe manner.
Following a short investigation, however, the FIA has confirmed that Sainz will face no further action, allowing him to line up third on the grid behind polesitter Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
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
The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), and team representatives of Cars 55 and 18 and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, and in-car video evidence.
“The team representative of Car 18 stated that the rejoining of Car 55 did not cause any issue to the driver of Car 18 and stated that his driver did not consider the manoeuvre to be unsafe on the part of the driver of Car 55.
“In view of the above and the poor visibility due to the adverse weather conditions, plus the presence of yellow flags, we determine to take no further action.”
More on Carlos Sainz and Williams from PlanetF1.com
Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference in Las Vegas, Sainz said that he was keen to minimise the time spent under yellow flags following his brief off at Turn 5.
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.”
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