04/09/2025 18:30
Carlos Sainz insists the FIA needs to have the flexibility to
"revisit and reanalyse" penalties in the wake of the punishment he
received for his clash with Liam Lawson in the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Williams driver, who is a Grand Prix Drivers' Association
director, was furious with the decision to hand him a 10-second
time penalty for his collision with the New Zealander, which saw
both inflicted with punctures, denying them likely points-scoring
finishes and wrecking their afternoons at Zandvoort. Sainz called
Lawson "stupid" over team radio for the coming together and was
shocked to find himself blamed. Williams has since confirmed it has
launched a right of review into Sainz's penalty. The 31-year-old
was forthright in his remarks in the immediate aftermath of the
race and was aggrieved by seemingly being unable to discuss the
call further with the stewards. When asked by RacingNews365 ahead
of the Italian Grand Prix if he still felt the same a few days on,
he confirmed that he did, whilst clarifying he was in fact able to
have a conversation with the officials. "Yeah, I did get the chance
to go and speak to them after the race," Sainz explained to media
present at Monza. "There was a misunderstanding while I was in the
TV pen... I thought I was not going to be able to go, but in the
end, I had the opportunity to go and sit with them for 15 minutes
to analyse the incident. "And it was very clear to me that as soon
as they got all the evidence right, and they looked at the places
that they could have looked at to take the right decision... it was
very clear to me, I think they realised that probably the decision
taken wasn't the best one." Sainz: Zandvoort penalty was 'not
acceptable' In addition to Sainz's claim that the stewards came to
a realisation once all usable evidence had been collected, the
Spanish driver explained, as part of ongoing talks with the FIA, he
is pushing for greater ability to retroactively amend miscarriages
of justice from the motorsport governing body. "Now we are trying
to see if we can come up with enough evidence and enough stuff to
realise if we can change the outcome of the penalty, because I
still firmly believe it was a very poor penalty that I received,"
the four-time grand prix winner added. "A bad judgement, which can
happen, as long as you have the capacity to revisit it... and if
there has been a misunderstanding or a lack of evidence or a lack
of analysis, then there is still time to reanalyse it, to reopen it
and change it. "I do believe they had a very difficult Sunday,
looking back at it, a very busy afternoon, and it was overwhelming
because of the amount of stuff that happened in the race or not.
"But I still definitely, firmly believe what I thought after the
race, obviously now in a much cooler-headed state, but I still
firmly believe what happened - and the penalty - was not
acceptable, and I made it very clear."
