Carlos Sainz hits out at Liam Lawson and ‘complete joke’ FIA penalty

Carlos Sainz criticised Liam Lawson’s wheel-to-wheel combat at Zandvoort after being hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

Sainz was penalised after looking to pass Lawson around the outside of Tarzan after a mid-race Safety Car restart, but was adjudged by officials to be at fault for the pair receiving punctures.

Carlos Sainz: Dutch GP penalty a ‘complete joke’, Lawson incident ‘quite clear’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Sainz attempted to pass Lawson around the outside at Turn 1 at Zandvoort, but with Lawson defending his position towards the exit kerb, the two made contact, suffered punctures and went a lap down as they crawled back to the pit lane.

The Williams driver was perplexed when told he was the driver to be penalised for causing a collision, with the FIA reasoning: “The front axle of Car 55 [Sainz] was not ahead of the front axle of Car 30 [Lawson] at the apex of Turn 1.

“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.”

Sainz, meanwhile, said over team radio that his penalty was “the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life”, and continued voicing his frustrations after the chequered flag, including that he finds Lawson difficult to race wheel-to-wheel.

“First of all, the incident, I think, is quite clear,” Sainz told media including PlanetF1.com.

“How many examples we’ve seen in Turn 1 in some order of two cars racing side by side without contact. It’s a corner that allows two cars to race each other without really having to have any unnecessary contact. But with Liam, it always seems to be very difficult to make that happen.

Updated F1 2025 statistics after the Dutch Grand Prix

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

👉 2025 Dutch Grand Prix – Official F1 results (Zandvoort)

“He always seems to prefer to have a bit of contact and risk a DNF or a puncture like we did, than to actually accept having two cars side by side.

“Hopefully it will come with more experience to him, because he knows he’s putting too many points on the line just for an unnecessary manoeuvre like he did. But on top of that, to then get that 10-second penalty for it, I think it’s a complete joke.”

Sainz and Lawson were later able to return to the lead lap in the final Safety Car period at Zandvoort, with the New Zealander having been running in the points for much of the race beforehand.

Rather than attempting a move at Turn 1, however, Sainz explained his original hopes for the overtake before he and Lawson made contact.

“I wasn’t even really trying to race Liam that hard,” he added.

“I just had a gap around the outside, and [thought] I’m going to start getting him a bit out of position for Turn 2, Turn 3.

“I wasn’t trying to pass him around the outside, I was just trying to have a side-by-side with him to then get him a bit off-line for Turn 2, Turn 3.

“Then suddenly, I have a contact, which caught me completely off-guard and by surprise.

“You need to pick your battles, and probably Liam, in his first years now, if he’s deciding to have a bit this approach of ‘pressure or no overtake’, but it’s something I’ll keep in mind.

“Story of my season so far, again, a race where I could have finished P5 where Alex [Albon] is, [losing] 10 points for something that I cannot understand. Still, it’s out of our hands.”

Earlier this year, the FIA published the Driver Standards Guidelines it uses to help police on-track incidents.

That document details considerations surrounding a car overtaking around the outside, with three criteria listed.

The first is that the front axle must be ahead of the other car’s front axle at the apex, which in the case of the Sainz/Lawson incident it was not.

Further more, the car must be driven in a controlled mater from entry to apex to exit, which it was, and complete the corner in track limits.

Having suggested mid-race that he visit the stewards afterwards, PlanetF1.com understands the Spaniard did indeed sit down with officials to discuss the incident.

Read next: Dutch GP: Piastri clinches Zandvoort win as Norris retires, Ferrari suffers double DNF