Max Verstappen has sided with Carlos Sainz on the penalty matter from F1 Las Vegas GP as he feels teams shouldn’t have a say in it.
Lots has been said about what happened to Ferrari’s Sainz in F1 Las Vegas GP in FP1. His damage was a bit larger than Alpine’s Esteban Ocon as the Spaniard also had the grid penalty for a new power unit element out of the existing list.
While the compensation factor could result in the favour of Ferrari post discussions, the penalty was handed and it did play a role in the grand prix as Charles Leclerc showed good pace against Red Bull and if Sainz was up with him, they had a chance to win.
Also, Ferrari would have scored more than Mercedes to leapfrog them with only four points in between them now. Sainz was angry all-through the weekend and didn’t wish to speak much on the matter as he would have vented on the FIA and also maybe F1.
It was kind of FIA’s fault but Sainz was penalised for it. “When you put it like that, the thing speaks for itself, no? There was clearly a safety issue at the track,” he said. “That safety issue destroyed my car, my mechanics had to invest five hours in putting together a completely new car. And on top of that, we get a 10-place grid penalty for something that we have nothing to do for.
“Just simply disappointed at the same time not surprised because there’s been many cases this year that I think the sport has proven that it can do things a lot better. And yeah, I think I’m surprised that the governing body doesn’t have the power to – in cases of force majeure – to let’s say overrule a bit in this kind of situation where it’s so clear: that this is something that is completely out of the team control, completely out of the driver control but I don’t know the rules, the governing body, the teams, I don’t know, I expected more from the sport in this situation but for some reason, yeah, for sure there will be rival teams pushing for me to get a penalty, which surprises me in a way, in another.
“I’ve been in this sport for too long to understand that it’s business, and there’s too much money involved in the finishing position in the Constructors’ or whatever for a team not to threaten to apply for a penalty for me. At the same time, as I said, I’m not surprised. I’m extremely disappointed and honestly very just upset with the whole situation, with the sport. Honestly, just upset I think is the right word and in a bad mood because I just expected more from the sport in this case,” summed up Sainz.
His former teammate and now a rival Verstappen, though, was on his side while noting that maybe the rules needs to change on this aspect. “The rules have to change for that,” he said. “It’s the same if you get taken out and you have a big accident. You can lose parts of engine, energy store, all these kinds of things. So, first of all, that needs to change.
“These things can be taken into consideration, that if you can take a free, let’s say, penalty or not and it will not be counted. And besides that, I think the teams should not be allowed to have a say in these kind of things. Because for sure they’re going to vote against that.
“Personally, I do think it’s very harsh on Carlos, but in this political environment that we are in, of course every team thinks about themselves and they, of course, are going to say no, he has to take the penalty,” summed up Verstappen, as Leclerc echoed the Dutchman’s comments.
Here’s what F1 bosses said FP1
Here’s Frederic Vasseur on handling of FIA, compensation
Here’s Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez on their fight
Here’s Max Verstappen, George Russell on their clash
Here’s Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on their run-in
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