Carlos Sainz Jnr said the penalty which cost him fourth place in the Australian Grand Prix was the most unfair decision he has ever seen.
The Ferrari driver collided with Fernando Alonso at turn one during the final standing restart of the race with two laps to go. Sainz was given a five-second time penalty for the contact.
The race concluded under Safety Car conditions. Sainz crossed the finishing line in fourth place but as so many cars were bunched up behind him he dropped out of the points in the final classification, taking 12th place.
He spoke briefly to the official Formula 1 channel before leaving to meet with the stewards, saying he did not want to incur another penalty for being late.
“Right now I cannot talk I’m too angry, too disappointed,” said the Ferrari driver. “I just cannot say anything.
“I prefer to go to a stewards, get the penalty away because I don’t think I deserve it and is the most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life. So I will go first to a stewards. I just need to come to the TV pen because if I don’t come, they put me another penalty.”
Sainz was also given two penalty points on his licence for the collision. He did not have any on his licence before today’s race.
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The stewards said he was “wholly to blame” for the collision, but did consider it as the equivalent of a first-lap incident, which are ordinarily treated more leniently.
“Car 14 [Alonso] was significantly ahead of car 55 [Sainz] at the first corner and nevertheless car 55 drove into car 14, causing it to spin and leave the track. We accordingly imposed a five-second penalty on car 55.
“For avoidance of doubt, we took into account the fact that this collision took place at the first lap of the restart, when, by convention, the stewards would typically take a more lenient view of incidents.
“However, in this particular case, notwithstanding the fact that it was the equivalent of a first lap incident, we considered that there was sufficient gap for car 55 to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so.”
Sainz was informed of his penalty on his radio by race engineer Riccardo Adami during the red-flag period before the final restart. He strongly criticised the decision and said he must be given the opportunity to put his case before the stewards.
“No, it cannot be, Ricky,” said Sainz. “Do I deserve to be out of the points? No. No, it’s unacceptable. Tell them it is unacceptable,…
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