Williams have successfully reversed the points penalty picked up by Carlos Sainz at the Dutch Grand Prix, the FIA have confirmed. Sainz had come into contact with Liam Lawson at Zandvoort, with the Spanish driver given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points on his superlicence.
The governing body have since removed the penalty points following a review, but given the race has already taken place, there isn’t much that can be done about the 10-second penalty. A lengthy judgment was released by the FIA detailing their findings following a video conference review held on Friday.
The FIA brief said: “Having considered the matter extensively and having reviewed the new video evidence and heard from the drivers of both cars and their team representatives, the Stewards determine to rescind the Decision. The Stewards agree with Williams’ characterisation of the collision as a racing incident. The Stewards are satisfied that the collision was caused by a momentary loss of control by Car 30.
“However, in the Stewards’ assessment, no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for that collision. Car 55 contributed to the incident by taking the risk to drive close to, and on the outside of, Car 30 when Car 55 had no right to room there and there was a real possibility that, if the collision had not occurred where it did, Car 55 would run out of track at the exit and/or a collision would have occurred at the exit for which the Driver of Car 55 would likely be predominantly if not wholly to blame.”
It continued: “The time penalty imposed by the Decision was served by Car 55 during the race. The Stewards have no power to remedy that served time penalty by amending the Classifications but note that the gap between Car 55 to the car ahead in the Final Classification of the race (coincidently Car 30) was 17 seconds. The Decision having been rescinded, it follows that the 2 penalty points imposed on the Driver of Car 55 are to be removed.”
Williams welcomed the decision in a statement, although they admitted they are in conversations with the FIA to improve the review process. The constructor said in a statement: “We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos’ Zandvoort penalty and are pleased they have now decided he was not at fault and that this was a racing incident.
“While it is frustrating that our race was compromised by the original decision, mistakes are part of motor racing and we will continue to work constructively with the FIA to improve stewarding processes and review the racing rules for the future.”
Sainz wasn’t afraid to share his thoughts on the decision at the time, with the former Ferrari man dubbing it one of the worst decisions he’s ever seen. He said: “Are you joking? You’re joking. I mean, it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life.”