Carlos Sainz voiced elaborate criticism over F1 stewarding ahead of this weekends Las Vegas GP. His comments were triggered by the ten-second penalty of Oscar Piastri in Interlagos. The championship contender received penalty for his part in the São Paulo GP restart. Following an early safety car Piastri tried to overtake both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. Unfortunately, the McLaren driver hit Antonelli, which in turn hit Leclerc.
Given the nature of the incident, the Williams driver felt the penalty was disproportionate. Sainz thinks F1 stewarding needs an ‘urgent catch-up’ after this and previous incidents.
Worrisome trend developing
“I think we need urgently a catch-up and try and solve it,” Sainz started his argument. “Because for me the fact that Oscar got a penalty there in Brazil is unacceptable, honestly, for the category that we are in and being the pinnacle of motorsport.
“I’m not going to explain why, I think you all guys saw what happened. I think everyone that’s seen racing knows that that is not Oscar’s fault at all. And everyone that’s really raced a race car knows he could have done nothing to avoid an accident there and he got away with a 10 second penalty.
“For me, it’s something that I don’t understand.”
Being on the receiving end of some questionable penalties himself, the Spaniard feels there is a worrisome trend developing.
“I didn’t understand my Zandvoort penalty,” he explained. “I didn’t understand why Ollie got a penalty when we both collided in Monza. He was not deserving of that penalty and I told him straight out of the race.
“I didn’t understand how I got a 10 second in Austin, and then the Brazil situation. So there’s been not one but multiple incidents this year that for me are far from where the sport should be.”
Are the rules followed too literally?
Following multiple stewarding inconsistencies, the FIA currenlty uses a set of guidelines in F1, which Sainz thinks warrants a discussion. Asked whether he thinks the rules should be written less strict, or that the stewards should have more liberty in applying them, the four-time Grand Prix winner had no clear answer.
“It’s difficult to judge. because it could go both ways. You could criticise the way the guidelines are written, and we ask the stewards to obviously apply those guidelines as firmly as possible, and the stewards are just doing their job.
“Or are the guidelines guidelines and the stewards should take them as guidelines and not as black or white, let’s say?
“It could go both ways, I’m not sure what the solution is. I think it needs to be discussed among all of us, but it is very clear for me that after what I saw in Brazil, something is not quite working.
“If we had to judge that as a 10 second penalty for the guy that had no fault for anything that he did.
Guidelines don’t allow for racing incidents
When asked, Sainz felt it is “less likely” that incidents are considered ‘racing incidents’ nowadays. Especially since the guidelines are very specific in what is and isn’t allowed. And that means stewarding in F1 will always put the blame on someone, Sainz says.
“I think with the way the rules are written, there is always going to be someone at fault,” he explains.
“Yeah, I think it is less likely to have a racing incident with the way things are written, cause there is always one exact scenario that happens, which is depending on where the car is and what happens.“
The former Ferrari driver was also critical about the way the stewards view lock-ups. It seems that often they blame the driver that locks-up in such an incident.
“Another thing that I struggle with is with lock-ups. I think whenever we see a lock-up, I think a steward immediately interprets that as out of control. And a lock-up not always means out of control. You can lock-up and still make the apex.
“I locked-up in Austin in reaction to a move that Kimi did, and Oscar locks-up in Brazil in reaction too. So it’s not like we were out of control and we were going to miss the apex, crash and create a massive accident.
“So yeah, I think the way those lock-ups are interpreted in terms of out of control, I think it’s also something that needs to be reviewed.”
