Sainz slapped with three-place grid penalty

Editor

Carlos Sainz will be demoted three places from his qualifying position in Baku following his first-lap incident with Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa.

Sainz hit Grosjean on the run down to Turn 3 and collided with Felipe Massa after losing control. Sainz and Massa both had to retire while Grosjean recovered to P10 after picking up minor damage.

The Spaniard apologised to his fellow drivers on Twitter, but the stewards have handed him a penalty for the next race in Baku.

Grosjean, though, was reminded of the incident that landed him with a one-race ban in 2012.

“It was the same manoeuvre as me turning on Lewis [Hamilton]," the Frenchman said.

"If he sees me or not, I was there, I was well alongside him so it’s the same type of thing. I’m not saying it’s a race ban, I’m not saying he needs a big fine as I had, but I’m saying I’m very unhappy with the way he behaved and I think it was very dangerous.”