Why Sainz was handed wrongful grid penalty for F1's Saudi GP

An FIA system error led to Carlos Sainz having a three-place grid penalty for his next Formula 1 race for just over 10 minutes before it was realised he had already served the penalty during the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Sainz and Williams were notified soon after the Sakhir race finish that he would have a grid drop for Jeddah because Williams had retired his car before he could serve a time penalty for his clash with Kimi Antonelli in Bahrain.

But the notice announcing the penalty was recalled when the officials realised that this wasn't the case and he had pitted specifically to serve the penalty on the lap before he was retired.

A notice should appear on the race control system to confirm when a driver has served an in-race penalty, but the FIA explained to The Race that this process did not function as it should in this instance and the stewards were unaware that Sainz had served the time penalty when they issued the grid penalty, having not had a notification from race control.

As soon as they realised what had happened, the grid penalty notice was recalled.

Sainz was given the 10-second time penalty for forcing Antonelli's Mercedes off the road when he locked up into the Turn 10 downhill left-hander onto the back straight on the first lap after the mid-race safety car restart as both were battling to try to get back into the points.

At that point Sainz was struggling with damage to his car's sidepod from a clash with Yuki Tsunoda's Red Bull that created the debris that led to that safety car period.

"I did actually do a good move into Turn 1. And then exiting Turn 1 I think he [Tsunoda] lost the rear and touched my sidepod with a big snap that he had to catch," said Sainz.

"And that was race over for me because I lost 40-50 points of load and that makes you a second and a half slower and you just go backwards from then on."

Sainz described the Antonelli incident as "heat of the moment, we were fighting for positions after the safety car restart with a cold hard [tyre] and no downforce on the car" but said he already knew he "was going to retire anyway" because of the damage from the Tsunoda clash.

As soon as he was radioed by Williams about his penalty, Sainz suggested taking it immediately to ensure it wasn't carried over to a Saudi Arabian GP grid penalty. He duly pitted, was stationary for a precautionary 11s and had new soft tyres fitted, rejoined then pitted to retire on the following lap.

Antonelli said he only just had time to take avoiding action when Sainz came towards him.

"I saw him in the last moment," said the Mercedes rookie. "Luckily I opened the steering wheel because we would have crashed, for sure. I don't know if he just lost it."

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As he struggled with the damage to his car, Sainz suggested over team radio that Tsunoda ought to be penalised - though after the race he was less certain on that front.

"He did lose the car fighting with me and that cost me the race," Sainz mused.

"At the same time, when I look at the onboard it's kind of a racing incident. It just cost me my race.

"A bit of a lack of control from him in that situation. But at the same time, if I was Yuki and you lose the car a bit in the middle of a fight, you would understand why you don't want a penalty.

"So a bit of a tough one to call but this time it cost me, I got caught the wrong side of a coin and it is what it is."

Tsunoda wasn't actually sure at the time that he'd made contact with Sainz, though he instantly felt the damage.

"The thing is, I didn't feel in the car that I touched him. I have to confirm the moment when we touched but is it, I think, maybe he came towards me at Turn 1? And at that moment I had wheelspin and I can't avoid it?" he said after finishing ninth.

"Maybe at that point my rear tyre touched his side, but the thing is, I didn't feel it in the car that I touched.

"I also had a big vibration afterwards but that came from pick up, whatever. So in the end I had damaged wheels. That probably was because of a really small kiss we had.

"My perspective, it's a proper racing incident."