Carlos Sainz was in high spirits before the start of the Vegas GP weekend. He had made all sorts of plans with fellow driver Charles Leclerc about the upcoming race. However, Carlos had the worst start to the Las Vegas GP with that incident claiming his car, just 9 minutes into the practice session.
Carlos Sainz had to suffer immensely in the free practice session, as his car was badly damaged due to a loose manhole cover. He lost the key components of his car, causing a repair blunder for Ferrari. But Sainz definitely didn’t expect the outcome that followed.
Carlos Sainz to serve penalty at Las Vegas GP
In any racing incident if the driver is as fault, the stewards give a penalty that must be served by the driver during the race. In an instance of mechanical failure or a crash, drivers are required to incur a grid penalty in the subsequent race if significant changes are made to their car’s major components. These scenarios pertain to typical cases in which the driver or team holds partial responsibility for the penalty.
However, if the driver didn’t make any mistakes and even the officials couldn’t predict the unusual yet inevitable circumstances, you would think that the driver would be spared any occurring penalty. However, it was not the case of an unlucky Carlos Sainz, who will be serving a 10 place grid penalty in the Las Vegas GP due to component replacements, following his FP1 fiasco.
In their defence, stewards clarified their decision quoting the F1 rules and regulations, “The stewards determine that notwithstanding the fact that the damage was caused by highly unusual external circumstances, Article 2.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations obliges all officials, including the Stewards, to apply the regulations as they are written.” Their decision, even though according to the set rules, is unfair to Carlos Sainz however, who fell prey to lack of diligence while preparing the racetrack.
Fans left livid with FIA decision
The fans and entire F1 community couldn’t comprehend the bizarre decision from FIA and believed that Carlos doesn’t deserve any penalty for the damage caused to his car. The circumstances under which Sainz’s car was destroyed was purely a mistake of race organisers who overlooked this fact and approved an unsafe track.
One fan commented on the Vegas GP penalty saying, “This weekend is turning this sport into a complete joke.”
Carlos Sainz was disappointed by the decision imposed on him and took to the social media to express his grief, “Eventful and long day. We seem competitive and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. However, the situation of the manhole damage and the 10-place penalty is not acceptable, but we’ll deal with it.” The only good part about his statement was his confidence in the car, which gives us an idea about the competition with Red Bull, during this weekend.
Charles Leclerc was not the only driver to have been unlucky this year it seems, Carlos would’ve looked forward to another win this weekend with the good pace his Ferrari showed, but the penalty has only decreased his chances. Do you think we will be encountering more incidents as the race progresses? What are your views on this, comment them below.
