Ahead of the F1 Mexico City GP, Williams driver Carlos Sainz shared his feelings on the penalty imposed on him following his US-GP incident with Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli.
Sainz launched an overtake attempt on Antonelli on Lap 6 of the US GP, which resulted in the Williams clipping the rear of the Mercedes driver. Antonelli spun, but was able to continue the race. Sainz, however, had to retire from the US GP and received a 5-place grid penalty for the Mexico City GP.
Sainz and Antonelli attended the Thursday press conference, where they addressed questions about their feelings towards each other following the incident in Austin.
“Yeah. Why?” Sainz responded, before stating that ‘what happens on track stays on track’.
“For me, what happens on track always stays on track.
Sainz is expressing his dissatisfaction with the penalty
While there are apparently no hard feelings between Sainz and Antonelli, the Spaniard wasn’t too pleased with the penalty imposed by the Stewards. The Williams Driver feels the penalty was disproportionate and that he couldn’t understand the harshness of it after reviewing the data.
“Then obviously, the decision that the stewards made of giving me a five-place grid penalty for here after what happened there, I found it completely disproportionate to what the incident itself was.
“It exposes a bit of the weaknesses in the rules that we have. But it is what it is. I have to take it, I obviously assume my responsibility or my share of responsibility for the incident.
“I wish we could have both continued the race, but honestly, after looking at the data and all the onboards that we looked at, the fact that they still decided to give me five places here is difficult to understand, difficult to accept – but whatever, I’ll take it.”
Sainz later added that the penalty was not something he would discuss in the drivers’ briefing, as such a discussion would not change the outcome.
“I think it’s not something to discuss in the drivers’ briefing, because it’s not like you’re going to change anything.”
Penalty is the result of a broader issue
The Williams driver felt that the penalty spoke to the broader issue of driving guidelines being applied as rules. Sainz argues that the guidelines are intended to support the evaluation process rather than be interpreted as rules.
“I think it’s something maybe to discuss more in Qatar, where we’re having a conversation about rules in general – about driving guidelines, I think they call them now – which is something I’ve been quite vocal about.
“A guideline is not a rule. A guideline can help you to see an accident or try and evaluate an accident, but it’s a guideline – it’s not a rule.
“And sometimes these guidelines are being applied for any kind of situation on track, which I find a bit interesting and not exactly the way I would judge an accident if I was a steward.”
Approach for the Mexico City GP given the penalty
With the Williams driver having been handed a five-place grid drop for the Mexico City GP, Sainz was asked if he needed to adjust his approach to the weekend.
“Probably doesn’t, because I still need to qualify as far ahead as possible. I mean that I start the race with that five-position offset as far ahead as possible and give myself the best chance to come back to the points.”
Sainz went on to highlight that at this stage of the season, it ‘clicked’ for him, and he is now in a place where he can deliver strong performances in qualifying and the race. The 31-year-old is hoping for a clean weekend to help him recover from the penalty.
“I don’t know, I feel like we’re in a great moment right now of the season where everything has finally clicked for me, and I’m quick on Saturdays, very quick on Sundays.
“I just hope that I can have a clean weekend. We managed to come back through the field in Singapore starting on 19th, so hopefully, here we start a bit further up, and we can still come back.”
Looking ahead to the final races of the 2025 F1 season
Since his move from Ferrari to Williams, Sainz has struggled a bit during the season. However, recent outings showed a return to form with Sainz scoring podiums in Baku and during the Austin sprint.
Given his current form, Sainz responded to questions about his ability to contend for solid points in the final stages of the 2025 F1 season.
“Track dependent, yes,” Sainz replied.
The Spaniard named this weekend’s Mexico City GP, as well as the Las Vegas GP, as races where he hopes to claim ‘good points. Races like Baku and the sprint race in Austin gave Sainz a boost ahead of the final run of races.
“Mexico is one of those that I hope we can be a bit stronger, similar to Austin, maybe. Then Vegas is one of those that I’ll be targeting or put in my list as the tracks where hopefully we can get good points.
“Austin – honestly, that podium felt almost like a bonus in terms of results. I really enjoyed the podium in Baku, but after that podium, I said, ‘Okay, now let’s just have a good run of points until the season finishes.
“But the podium in Austin came, and the pace in Austin was so encouraging to see that it obviously motivates me and lifts me up to be more hopeful of the last – how many races? Five? Four? Five left? Five.”
Sainz shares his grid reference point
Following the US GP, it emerged that Red Bull has frequently messed with the tape McLaren driver Lando Norris uses to align his car in the grid box. Asked about his own point of reference, Sainz shared that he uses a reference point inside the car to help him align the car.
“The line of reference is just something the sidepod has. Like, I don’t know how to – it’s not an aero part – it’s just where the two mountings fix, just like a line. And I am lucky that it coincides exactly with the yellow line. I align myself to that, and it’s pretty much spot on.
“Can you tell us the technical…” Nico Hülkenberg interjected, to which Sainz responded:
“I will! Honestly, I don’t see any competitive advantage in that. So if you guys need it, I’ll give it to you, because I see that as basic racing stuff – basic racing fairness to go racing.“
