Carlos Sainz and Ferrari handed out a €25000 fine for impeding in FP3


Carlos Sainz and Ferrari handed out a €25000 fine for impeding in FP3

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz has been behind his teammate Charles Leclerc for the whole weekend, and also the whole season, as Leclerc has out-qualified him in each event. It can’t help much his weekend that he’s been handed a warning for impeding Lance Stroll in the last practice session, but it could have been much worse for the Spaniard.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sainz has been given a reprimand for his impeding of Stroll, and this is his third of the season, alongside a 25000 euro fine for the Prancing Horses, but he may have received a grid penalty instead. The stewards only spared him because they believe it was not entirely his own fault, but was also the result of negligence by Ferrari.

Not only with Stroll, but the Spaniard also impeded Sebastian Vettel later on, primarily due to the team, but he was still ‘driving slower than can be considered reasonable.’ As such, the Spaniard can certainly count himself lucky to have not been strapped with a grid penalty, which would have been a catastrophe, especially at a track like Monaco.

Also Read: “I felt like Real Madrid”: Carlos Sainz emulates his favourite football team in a fundraising match in Monaco

ADVERTISEMENT

What was Ferrari’s mistake?

Ferrari were handed out a fine for giving misleading information to Carlos Sainz (as Stroll was approaching behind), as such, the Spaniard was unaware that a car was approaching him closely and this unawareness was compounded especially because of poor visibility.

The FIA’s statement reads:

“Approaching turns 17 and 18 the driver of Car 55 (Sainz) was given a series of grossly incorrect messages, by radio, about the gaps to the car behind. It is unclear to the stewards why such misleading information was given to the driver, who was under the impression that there was no car immediately behind him. Due to the poor rear visibility at that part of the circuit, the driver was relying entirely on the team’s messages.”

However, Sainz had come almost to a standstill, which was considered unacceptable by the stewards, which is why the reprimand was handed out. If Sainz were to do this during a qualifying session, he has been warned that ‘much more severe’ penalties would be imposed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also Read: “I can only admire,” Carlos Sainz admits he will try to copy Charles Leclerc’s driving style

Also Read: “I’m struggling quite a bit to drive this car,” Carlos Sainz blames technical secrets for his average performances