F1 Dutch GP stewards not good enough after “complete joke” of a penalty

Carlos Sainz has questioned the level of Formula 1 stewarding after receiving a penalty that he labelled as a “complete joke” at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Williams driver finished 13th at Zandvoort after suffering a 10-second penalty for his collision with Racing Bulls man Liam Lawson during the lap 27 restart following a safety car.

Sainz drove around the outside of Turn 1, but his front right tyre collided with Lawson’s rear left at the hairpin exit, causing damage to both cars.

“First of all, the incident, I think, is quite clear,” said Sainz. “I don’t know how many examples we’ve seen in Turn 1 in Zandvoort of two cars racing side by side without contact.

“It’s a corner that allows two cars to race each other without really having to have any unnecessary contact.

“But with Liam, it always seems to be very difficult to make that happen. He always seems to prefer to have a bit of contact and risk a DNF or a puncture like we did, than to actually accept having two cars side by side.

“Hopefully, it will come with more experience to him because he knows he’s putting too many points on the line just for an unnecessary manoeuvre like he did. But on top of that, to then get a 10-second penalty for it, I think it’s a complete joke.

“Honestly, I need to go now to the stewards just to get an explanation to see what is their point of view of the incident because it’s unacceptable.

“I think it’s not the level of the stewarding that Formula 1 needs if they are really considering that to be a 10-second penalty on my behalf.

“It’s a serious matter now that concerns me as a driver, as a GPDA director and something that I will make sure I raise.”

Sainz doubled down on his frustration, claiming it wasn’t even an attempt of an overtake as he sensed an opportunity later in the sector. 

“I just had a gap around the outside and I said, ‘OK, I’m going to start getting him a bit out of position for Turn 2, Turn 3’. I wasn’t trying to pass him around the outside,” said Sainz.

“I was just trying to have a side-by-side with him. Suddenly, I have a contact which caught me completely off guard and by surprise.

“You need to pick your battles and probably Liam in his first years [of F1] now, if he’s deciding to have a bit of this approach of pressure or no overtake, it’s something I’ll keep in mind.

“But yeah, story of my season so far. Again, a race where I could have finished P5 where Alex [Albon] is. Another 10 points for something that I cannot understand still gets out of our hands.”

Explaining its decision, the FIA said: “The front axle of Car 55 [Sainz] was not ahead of the front axle of Car 30 [Lawson] at the apex of Turn 1.

“Car 55 attempted to stay on the outside of Car 30 and a collision occurred. We considered that Car 30 had the right to the corner and therefore Car 55 was wholly or predominantly to blame for the collision.”

It leaves Sainz 17th in the championship during his debut year for Williams, while team-mate Albon is up in eighth and he also disagreed with the stewarding decision.

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 / Getty Images

“To me, it was quite clearly Liam’s fault,” said Albon. “So I don’t know why Carlos got the penalty. I think I had the best view out of everyone.

“It looked to me like in the middle of the corner, Liam opened the wheel and just drove Carlos out to dry.

“I don’t know where Carlos could have gone. I think, especially a decision like that, if they’re unsure, should be left to the stewards after the race. But I think it was a wrong decision anyway.”