Carlos Sainz handed further FIA punishment after US Grand Prix penalty
Carlos Sainz has had one or two skirmishes with the FIA across his F1 career
Williams driver Carlos Sainz has had two penalty points added to his F1 superlicence following his clash with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the United States Grand Prix, the FIA has confirmed.
Sainz had a mixed weekend in Austin, Texas, taking advantage of the collision between McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to finish an impressive third in Saturday’s sprint race.
Carlos Sainz gets two FIA penalty points after Antonelli collision
The Spaniard followed up that result by qualifying ninth for the main event, reaching Q3 for the second time in three races.
However, Sainz retired on the sixth lap after colliding with Antonelli’s Mercedes at the tight Turn 15.
The stewards found Sainz to be at fault for the incident with the Williams driver handed a five-place grid penalty for this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.
Sainz has also had two penalty points added to his superlicence, putting him on four for the current 12-month window.
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Sainz’s previous two penalty points came following another incident with Antonelli having forced the Mercedes driver off track during the Bahrain Grand Prix in April.
The 31-year-old and his Williams team won an appeal last month against the two penalty points awarded to Sainz for a collision with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson at the Dutch Grand Prix in August, having branded the original decision a “complete joke.”
F1 drivers face an automatic one-race ban if they accumulate 12 penalty points in the space of 12 months, with former Haas star Kevin Magnussen becoming the first to be banned under the system, introduced in 2014, last year.
The stewards’ report in Austin read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), the driver of Car 12 (Kimi Antonelli), team representatives and reviewed video and in-car video evidence.
“Car 55 attempted an inside overtake on Car 12 at Turn 15 and a collision between the two cars occurred at the apex.
“The driver of Car 55 maintained that he had expected the driver of Car 12 to leave him space at the apex but Car 12 turned in early and Car 55 locked brakes when it became clear that a collision was unavoidable.
“He suggested that the Driver of Car 12 ought to have anticipated an overtake attempt by Car 55 and left space to avoid contact.
“However, at no point prior to the apex was the front axle of Car 55 alongside or ahead of the mirror of Car 12.
“Therefore, according to the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 55 had not earned a right to be left space at the apex.
“The Stewards therefore determine that the Driver of Car 55 was predominatly [sic] to blame for the collision and a penalty is applied accordingly.
“As the driver to be penalized did not finish the race a grid penalty equalling a 10 seconds time penalty is imposed.”
More on Carlos Sainz and Williams from PlanetF1.com
Speaking after his early exit, Sainz claimed that Antonelli closed the door unexpectedly when he launched his move at Turn 15.
He told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I was coming quite quick and feeling comfy and obviously feeling like I had a lot of pace today again in the car.
“I had just done a very similar move on Ollie [Bearman] in Turn 15 and went for the same move on Antonelli.
“I think he started closing the door earlier than I expected and I ultimately locked up and got a bit scared by him closing on me and we collided.
“I think the incident looks a lot more bad than what it actually is, because in the end it’s just a small lockup with high consequences.
“But a pity because [it came] on a good weekend.”
Asked if his DNF felt like a missed opportunity following his impressive result in the sprint, he replied: “You can always play it safe, bring home the P8 and wonder.
“You always go for a move. Sometimes it all works perfectly.
“With Kimi, it was a bit more aggressive, a bit more closing the door and it was more to be able to get the move done and then you go home with zero.
“So this sport is just a very fine balance between playing it safe, bringing home the P8 or risking it a bit more to try and bring home the P7 or the P6.
“Today, it didn’t quite work.”
He later added: “I think the incident looks a lot worse with Kimi than what it is.
“I think he starts turning in on me and, when I see him turning in, that’s when I lock up because I realise he’s not seen me or we’re about to crash anyway because he’s closing.
“I know it looks bad from the outside in terms of the lockup and the contact but, honestly, with these wide apexes that we have here, we both need to be aware of the racing.
“And I think in this case, we both didn’t do a good job.”
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock
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