FIA confirms Williams punishment after Carlos Sainz ‘scare’ in Qatar GP qualifying
Williams has been fined €5,000 following an unsafe release with Carlos Sainz’s car in qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix qualifying.
Sainz continued his impressive second half of the F1 2025 season in qualifying in Qatar to secure seventh place on the grid ahead of Sunday’s race.
Williams fined over Carlos Sainz unsafe release after FIA investigation
As reported by PlanetF1.com, however, Williams found itself summoned to the stewards after qualifying due to a potential unsafe release in Q3.
Sainz was heard complaining of the sensation of “plastic on my tyres” over team radio, with the team confirming that “a sticker from the floor” of his car had peeled off.
After a post-qualifying investigation, the stewards have declared that Sainz’s ‘great difficulty’ in controlling the car on track meant it was released in an unsafe condition.
As such, Williams has been hit with a fine of €5,000.
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 Atlassian Williams Racing team representative and reviewed video and team radio video evidence.
“The team advised that it had been using this floor sticker since mid season and had not previously experienced any problems with it peeling off the floor.
“However ultimately the team is responsible for ensuring that the car is not released in an unsafe condition and video evidence showed that the driver had great difficulty in controlling the car, thus the Stewards determine that this was an unsafe situation.”
More on Carlos Sainz and Williams from PlanetF1.com
Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets after qualifying, Sainz admitted he was uncertain if he was carrying damage after his “scare” with the sticker.
He said of his qualifying session: “We took another step in that [experimental setup] direction in quali and it seemed to, again, do some steps in the right direction.
“Overall, honestly, just happy with the weekend so far.
“We’ve been very solid, [scoring] a point in the sprint, a position better now in quali and a top seven going into the race.
“If you would have told me before the weekend, I would have not believed it, so I think it’s been a very good weekend up until now.
“Three good laps in quali. I hit [the] 20.2 [benchmark] in Q2 and then I felt like I just couldn’t get any quicker than 20.2.
“I felt like that was the limit of the car.
“And in Q3, even with that scare of the plastic and damaging the bodywork and having to repair.
“I don’t know if I was carrying any damage or not, but after that scare, managing to hit the 20.2 and being P7, I take it and we race from there.”
Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher
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