Carlos Sainz Reacts to Penalty Controversy After Liam Lawson Incident

Carlos Sainz has welcomed the decision to overturn his penalty from the Dutch Grand Prix, calling it a “breakthrough” moment for Formula 1.



The Williams driver was penalized with 10 seconds and handed two penalty points after a clash with Racing Bulls rookie Liam Lawson at Turn 1 in Zandvoort.



Sainz had attempted an outside overtake when his right front tire touched Lawson’s rear left, causing damage to both cars. Stewards initially ruled Lawson had “the right to the corner” as he was ahead at the apex.



Williams later protested the ruling, and stewards rescinded Sainz’s penalty points last Saturday, though his finishing position remained 13th.



“This is a breakthrough because it’s the first time that I’ve managed to present new evidence and accept a hearing,” Sainz said ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.



“We tried before and we never managed in other teams, so it shows that the mechanism is there and is there for a reason, which I’m finally happy that we can use that mechanism in the case where it’s black and white like it was in my case.”



Call for Full-Time Stewards



The Spaniard has long voiced concerns about the consistency of stewarding in Formula 1.



Currently, stewards are part-time volunteers who rotate across the 24-race calendar, leading to variations in decision-making.



Sainz, who also serves as a director for the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, argued that a more professional structure is needed.



“As a group, FIA, if we all agree, that should be the way forward where at least two of the three stewards are permanent and we have one rotational for teaching purposes and sporting fairness purposes,” he said.



He dismissed financial concerns over the proposal, adding: “We shouldn’t care about who pays because there’s enough money in the sport to pay those salaries, the same way that there’s enough money in the sport to pay the salaries of all the other people.”



Guidelines Still Cause Confusion



While Sainz supported the existence of racing guidelines, he acknowledged they have not delivered the clarity drivers were hoping for.



“I think the guidelines have been an effort to make it very clear for the stewards and the drivers to know who is likely to have responsibility for the incident,” he said.



“But I’m not going to lie, I think they haven’t had the impact that we all wished they had in terms of making it clearer.”



His Williams teammate Alex Albon echoed the sentiment, admitting: “I still don’t really know how to properly race.”



Common Sense in Racing Decisions



Sainz believes the issue lies in the subjective application of guidelines.



“We cannot forget the fact of a very important word that is ‘guidelines’,” he said. “I think guidelines is not a rule, it’s a guideline to how to judge an incident.”



He added, “There’s not a rule that says, ‘I cannot go around the outside of a corner’. There’s a guideline to say if you are at the outside of the corner, you’re very likely to be, and you don’t back out of it and the two cars collide, it’s very likely that you will be the car penalised, but it’s a guideline, not a rule.”



Reflecting on his own career, the four-time race winner said, “I’ve been racing my whole life, and in the car, if I’m honest, I don’t think about the guidelines. I think more about clean racing and what I think is fair, and I go by muscle memory of my last 20 years of racing, and I always try and keep it fair. But when there’s a touch, a crash that I know I haven’t done anything wrong about, I know that in these cases you need to use common sense.”
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