FIA confirms Carlos Sainz punishment after Valtteri Bottas incident

Williams driver Carlos Sainz has been hit with a three-place penalty for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid following a stewards’ investigation, the FIA has confirmed.

Madrid-born Sainz is preparing for his first home race at the Madring circuit, the new home of the Spanish Grand Prix.

FIA confirms three-place grid penalty for Carlos Sainz at Spanish Grand Prix

The Williams driver was classified 17th in Saturday’s qualifying session, with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso also eliminated in Q1 in 18th place.

Sainz found himself under investigation after qualifying for an impeding incident with Cadillac driver Valtteri Bottas.

The incident took place at Turns 6 and 7 in the closing minutes of Q1.

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Following an investigation, the FIA stewards have confirmed that Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty.

The grid drop sees Sainz fall to 20th on the grid with Alonso, Sergio Perez and Bottas all moving up a place.

The stewards’ verdict read: “The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 55 (Carlos Sainz), the driver of Car 77 (Valtteri Bottas), team representatives and reviewed video, timing, team radio and in-car video evidence.

“The team failed to inform the driver of Car 55 about Car 77 closing in on a flying lap and the driver did not take any action to make way for the incoming car.

“The Stewards determine that Car 55 unnecessarily impeded Car 77.”

Speaking to PlanetF1.com before the decision was announced, Sainz admitted that he received no team radio message from Williams to inform him that Bottas was on a push lap behind him.

Sainz said: “We didn’t execute a very good quali, I’m going to be honest.

“We probably deserved to be in Q1 because the whole quali was not the best.

“I was losing always a couple of tenths on the straights, which we need to investigate where it’s coming from.

“We went really early into the last run there with a lot of track evolution, so probably missed out a bit also on that.

“And [after] at the last [run], even when the quali was finished, we impeded Valtteri without even knowing that he was on a push lap and never getting the call, so very scrappy.

“Very poor quali. Still five thousandths off [teammate Alex Albon and a place in Q2].

“I’ve had a very solid weekend up until now, so five thousandths is what we deserve. We will work on tomorrow.”

Bottas said of the incident: “The team didn’t call him, so he didn’t know that I was coming.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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