Carlos Sainz faced a tough weekend in Mexico City after a costly error during the United States Grand Prix in Austin as the Williams driver was handed a five-place grid penalty after being found at fault for a collision with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on Lap 7.
The incident happened as Sainz tried an overtake around the inside of the apex at Turn 15 but due to contact between the two cars Antonelli spun off the track and was forced to re-join further down the order. The Spaniard retired shortly after the clash and became the only retirement of the race while Antonelli limped home to 13th place.
What Was the Stewards’ Ruling and Reactions to Carlos Sainz’s Divebomb?
Following the race, the stewards investigated the situation and determined that Sainz bore the primary responsibility for the collision. The stewards’ decision cited that the Williams driver’s front axle was not ahead of Antonelli at the apex of the turn and hence he had no entitlement to space from the Mercedes driver. “At no point prior to the apex was the front axle of Car 55 alongside or ahead of the mirror of Car 12. Therefore, according to the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 55 had not earned a right to be left space at the apex.”
“The Stewards therefore determine that the Driver of Car 55 was predominantly to blame for the collision and a penalty is applied accordingly. As the driver to be penalized did not finish the race a grid penalty equalling a 10 seconds time penalty is imposed.”
The ruling added two penalty points to Sainz’s FIA super licence and brought his total to four in the last 12 months alongside the grid-drop penalty for the next race in Mexico.
Reactions from the paddock were mixed as Antonelli described Sainz’s move as “very optimistic” while trying to keep a level head. “I don’t think he was going to make the corner anyway and I tried to avoid hitting the apex just to give him a bit more space but I ended up getting taken out. It’s a shame, but we move forward,” he admitted.
Antonelli admitted the collision affected his car significantly. “It was a bit scrappy. I had a lot of vibration. I hit a little bit of the wall with the rear wing. I don’t know if it was damaged but also I had quite a lot of vibration. So I need to check if the car was fully fine,” he said.
Looking ahead to Mexico, Sainz will face the challenge of starting five places further back on the grid and the penalty puts him in a tougher position to score points and Williams will need to fine-tune strategy and optimize race pace to help their driver recover from this setback.
