FIA confirms Carlos Sainz penalty for Belgian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz has been handed a 10-place grid penalty after Williams discovered a fault with the battery pack in his car ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix.

Sainz had been scheduled to start 14th for the race at Spa-Francorchamps but Williams changed his Energy Store Main Enclosure.

Carlos Sainz given 10-place grid penalty

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Williams said they had discovered an issue with Sainz’s battery pack on the morning of the race and had to replace the ESME, resulting in a 10-place grid penalty for this afternoon’s Grand Prix.

In normal circumstances, that would have seen Sainz start at the back of the grid but the Spaniard is fortunate this fault was found on a weekend when plenty of other drivers have picked up grid penalties.

Lando Norris and Lance Stroll have both been given a 10-place grid penalty for replacing one power unit element past their allocation. Reigning World Champion Norris is onto his fourth Control Electronics Unit while Stroll is now using his fourth MGU-K.

Stroll’s Aston Martin team-mate Fernando Alonso has been given a 20-place grid penalty for using a fifth Energy Store, fifth Control Electronics Unit and seventh Power Unit Ancillary Component.

Isack Hadjar meanwhile has dropped 30 grid positions after using a fifth engine, Turbocharger and Exhaust Set.

As such, Sainz’s penalty works out as a five-place grid penalty with the Williams driver staying in 19th. He will be one spot ahead of Stroll with Hadjar in 21st and Alonso in 22nd. Norris, who was the third-quickest qualifier, will start 13th.

Sainz has already been in the attention of the stewards on two occasions this weekend as he was alleged to have failed to slow under yellow flags during FP3.

After Lewis Hamilton crashed into the barrier at the exit of Turn 13, both Sainz and Max Verstappen passed through the double yellow sector. Sainz had to take evasive action to avoid crashing into the back of Verstappen but the stewards deemed Sainz had committed no infringement and the locking of brakes was attributable to a misunderstanding of relative braking.

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Meanwhile on Friday, Sainz was labelled an “idiot” by Kimi Antonelli who felt the Williams driver had impeded him.

Sainz suggested he had done nothing wrong and urged his younger rival to “calm down.”

“I think he felt like I impeded him – I don’t feel like I did,” Sainz said.

“I guess nowadays with the SM [Straight Mode], if you don’t get out of the way exactly, you cannot turn because you have no downforce with the wings open.

“Maybe he felt like I could have got out of the way in a better way.

“But I don’t think he should call me an idiot either, on the radio, I think that’s forbidden, to swear and insult a rival – so I think he should calm down a bit.”

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