Carlos Sainz was vocal of what he claimed to be “weaknesses” that had been exposed in the F1 regulations following his incident with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in Austin.
The incident itself
Sainz finds himself slapped with a five-place grid penalty for this weekends Mexico City Grand Prix. The Spaniard collided with Antonelli on lap 7 of the United States Grand Prix last weekend, causing Sainz to retire.
The Williams driver attempted an ambitious move on the inside of Antonelli into turn 15. The pair made contact, with Antonelli sent spinning into the gravel and down to the rear of the field.
Sainz was eliminated on the spot with damage to his front suspension while Antonelli could only recover to 13th place.
After the race, the stewards investigated the incident and claimed Sainz was at fault. The Williams driver was said to have “not earned a right to be left space at the apex” due to his car being too far behind Antonelli’s
The decision was a drop of five places for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix yet it’s a decision that has left Sainz less than impressed.
An unfair penalty?
“I found it completely disproportionate to the incident itself,” said Sainz in the Thursday press conference.
The Spanish driver was clearly frustrated with the stewards decision and lamented that it “exposes the weaknesses in the rules.”
“It’s difficult to understand,” said Sainz. “Having looked at the data and the onboards the fact they still decided to give me five place (grid drop) for here is difficult to understand.”
“I assume my share of responsibility for the incident,” Sainz said. “It’s difficult to take though,” Sainz admitted.
There was no bad blood between the two drivers though. Paired together for the Thursday press conference Sainz was quick to reaffirm that “what happens on track stays on track.”
The penalty could prove detrimental to Sainz’s championship with the Williams driver just two points adrift of Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in ninth and one point behind VCARB’s Isack Hadjar in tenth.
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