FIA confirms Carlos Sainz decision after Sprint quali investigation
Carlos Sainz was penalised for causing a collision with Oscar Piastri
ZANDVOORT – Carlos Sainz has been given a warning by the FIA Stewards for driving unnecessarily slowly during Sprint qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
Sainz qualified 18th in the Sprint qualifying session at the Zandvoort circuit, where Mercedes driver George Russell claimed pole position for the Sprint. He will, however, start the Sprint from the pit lane after Williams made setup changes to his FW48.
Carlos Sainz receives FIA warning for slow driving
The Williams driver posted a fastest lap time of 1:14.738, falling 0.120s outside of the time needed to progress to SQ2.
Adding to his troubles, the Spaniard was summoned by the stewards for an alleged breach of Article 12.2.1.i of the FIA’s International Sporting Code, which relates to driving unnecessarily slowly.
The stewards ruled that the Williams driver was five seconds over the required maximum time.
Sainz was given a warning for the breach.
The verdict stated: “The stewards heard from the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, telemetry, team radio and in-car video evidence.
“Car 55 had to let Car 16 by before Turn 13, this impacting his lap time delta. After that, the driver accelerated to make up time before coming into the pits, but still reached the Safety Car Line 1 being approx. 5 seconds above the required maximum time.
“The driver explained that he could not accelerate the car in the way he wanted due to the fact that the battery of the car was empty, but also admitted that he could have done more to make up time before entering the pit lane.
“The Stewards acknowledge the difficulties arising from energy management, but also agree with the driver that he could have done more to manage his delta time and therefore determine that a Warning to the driver is appropriate.”
It capped off a difficult Friday for Sainz, who went off the circuit three times during FP1 and damaged his FW48.
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“I struggled a lot this morning with the balance of the car and unfortunately went off into the gravel a few times,” he explained.
“We damaged quite a lot of parts on the car, so in my FP1 I couldn’t run with the right components and the components that we have to put on the car for the rest of the weekend are not the best in terms of downforce and performance delivery.
“But it’s what it is. We are a bit tight on everything until we get the upgrade in Baku and unfortunately the gravel in this track is quite aggressive and it breaks quite a lot of parts of the car.
“So we’ll try and learn as much as possible in the Sprint and we’ll take the rest of the weekend.”
Sainz will start the Sprint from the pit lane after Williams broke parc ferme conditions to change his FW48’s set-up.
The team statement read: “Carlos will start today’s Sprint from the pit lane following setup changes, allowing us to gather data for the rest of this weekend.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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