FIA cancels grid penalty as F1 driver hit with multiple penalty points

14/04/2025 03:20

The FIA has cancelled a grid penalty the stewards handed to Williams driver Carlos Sainz for not correctly serving a penalty during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Sainz was handed a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his super-licence for causing a collision with the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli at Turn 10 - which caused severe damage to the right-hand sidepod of the FW47.  The Spanish racer then came into the pits to serve this penalty before Williams opting to retire the car, ensuring that the sanction would not be converted into a grid drop for a penalty not being served for this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, the stewards initially issued a document stating that Sainz had not served the penalty, and was being hit with a three-place demotion for Jeddah.  Video-evidence quickly disproved this, with the grid penalty ultimately being cancelled, although the two penalty points for colliding with Antonelli remain on Sainz's record, with three for the 12-month period. Not so fortunate was Liam Lawson, who picked up 15 seconds worth of time penalties for causing two collisions, and three penalty points, taking him to five for the 12-month period. The full, updated list is available to view here. Elsewhere, Jack Doohan picked up a simple five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits for Alpine, whilst Nico Hulkenberg's Stake was disqualified for too much plank wear, the fourth DSQ of the season in just four races.