Carlos Sainz declares that he’s been left “upset” by the sport and also Ferrari’s Formula 1 rivals for his grid penalty in the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The opening practice hour at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit was abandoned after Sainz ran over a water valve cover and sustained extensive damage to his Ferrari SF-23 car.
With his power unit requiring a change, Ferrari asked the FIA for dispensation for the use of a third energy store outside of Sainz’s penalty-free allowance for the season.
But despite the Stewards acknowledging the “highly unusual and unfortunate circumstances”, Ferrari’s appeal was dismissed, handing Sainz a 10-place drop.
Sainz, who qualified on the front row but will now be demoted to 12th, believes he should have avoided a penalty because the incident was outside of his or the team’s control.
“There was clearly a safety issue at the track,” he said. “That issue destroyed my car. My mechanics have to invest five hours in putting together a completely new car.
“On top of that we get a 10-place grid penalty for something that we have nothing to do for. I’m just simply disappointed. At the same time, I’m 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.
“I’m surprised that the governing body doesn’t have the power to, in cases of force majeure, to overrule a bit in this kind of situation where it’s so clear that it’s something that is completely out of the team’s control, completely out of the driver’s control.
“The rules, the governing body, the teams: I don’t know, I expected more from the sport in this situation.”
The Spaniard is also convinced that certain rival teams lobbied for Ferrari not to be granted an exception to the regulations.
Ferrari is embroiled in a close battle with Mercedes for second place in the championship, with the pair separated by only 20 points with two rounds remaining.
“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 the sport for too long to understand this business,” he added.
“There’s too much money involved in the finishing position in the Constructors’ [Championship] 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 I’m very just upset with the whole situation, with the sport, honestly. Upset, I think is the right word and in a bad mood because I just expected more from the sport in this case.”
Meanwhile, Max Verstappen supported Sainz’s view by underlining that the rules should have been more accommodating to the unique episode Ferrari encountered.
“The rules have to change for that,” the Dutchman expressed. “It’s the same if you get taken out and have a big accident, you can lose parts of the engine and energy store, all these kinds of things.
“First of all, that needs to change all these things can be taken into consideration but if you can take a free penalty or not and it will not be counted.
“But beside that I think the teams should not have a say in these kinds of things because for sure they are going to vote for it. I do think it is 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 and he will have to take a penalty.”
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