F1 Driver Was Left in 'Disbelief' After 'Unacceptable' Las Vegas GP Penalty
Carlos Sainz was furious after he was handed a brutal penalty following a controversial incident at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
On Sunday, the Formula One grid will compete in one of the most exciting races of the race calendar as the Las Vegas Grand Prix gets underway.
The 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix will mark the third time that the Formula One season has stopped in Sin City after it became the third race hosted in the USA in 2023.
Mercedes driver George Russell won last year's race while reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen took home the victory in the first outing in Las Vegas.
Advert
However, it isn't Verstappen's win that was the most memorable part of the 2-23 Las Vegas Grand Prix after Sainz was handed a harsh penalty after a highly controversial on-track incident.
As soon as the first practice session for the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix began, it became clear that there was something visibly wrong with the track.
Fans quickly noticed that there was a loose manhole cover on the track, but it was too late as Sainz ran over the cover just eight minutes into the first practice session damaging his power unit, chassis and survival cell.
Of course, Ferrari were forced to carry out repairs of the car, including changing Sainz's energy store with a new component, leading to him incurring a penalty.
The Spaniard was given a a 10-place grid penalty for the incident, meaning that he started the race in 12th after qualifying second behind teammate Charles Leclerc.
Speaking after the penalty was confirmed, Sainz admitted: "Right now I am just too disappointed with the outcome and I don't want to talk too much about the future because what happened today, for me, was a very clear example of how this sport can be improved in so many ways.
"The FIA, teams and rules that can clearly be applied as force majeure for me not to take a penalty but someway there is always people or ways to make the situation worse for an individual and in this case it's my turn to pay the price."
After discussions with Ferrari and the FIA's single seater director Nikolas Tombazis, race stewards stood by the decision to hand out the penalty, but noted that they would have taken any other action if possible.
"The stewards note that if they had the authority to grant a derogation in what they consider in this case to be mitigating, unusual and unfortunate circumstances, they would have done so, however the regulations do not allow such action," the stewards said.
Ahead of the penalty announcement, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur branded FP1 as 'unacceptable,' admitting that the repairs to Sainz's car would cost them 'a fortune' and massively impact their season.
Ben McCrum