Sainz given formal warning for Verstappen incident, Hamilton and others cleared

Carlos Sainz Jnr has been given a formal warning, the mildest sanction a driver can be given, for an incident during qualifying.

Four other drivers including Lewis Hamilton also avoided grid penalties following another investigation after qualifying. The quartet were cleared of driving too slowly between the Safety Car lines.

The incident involving Sainz and Verstappen occurred during Q2 after Sainz had completed a lap and Verstappen had just left the pits. Sainz told the stewards he did not want to be overtaken by his rival as he had to obey the maximum time between the two Safety Car lines.

However after hearing from both drivers and reviewing video and other data related to the incident, the stewards decided Sainz went too far in his efforts to keep the Red Bull behind.

“During the hearing the driver of car 55 [Sainz] stated that he could not afford being passed by another car as he had to stay below the maximum lap time between SC lines two and one. Whilst this was accepted by the stewards as well as by the driver of car one [Verstappen], the measures taken by car 55 were deemed to be unnecessary given the fact that the incident happened in qualifying and cars are not supposed to directly race each other while preparing for flying laps.

“The stewards determine that a warning is appropriate on this occasion given the circumstances.”

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While some sanctions, such as reprimands, can accumulate and lead to penalties, this is not the case for warnings. Sainz did not receive any reprimands.

Hamilton, Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri team mates Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson all avoided penalties for exceeding the maximum time between the two Safety Car lines. The stewards cleared the four drivers of a total of six incidents, Hamilton and Tsunoda having exceeded the limit twice each.

They noted that while five of the incidents could be judged clearly from video evidence, one involving Hamilton could not, which is why he was the only one of the four drivers summoned to explain his actions.

In all six cases the stewards ruled “the drivers took appropriate actions to not impede other drivers, and in all cases they slowed down significantly to allow other drivers to pass while giving those drivers a clear track.”

“The stewards therefore determine that they did not drive ‘unnecessarily slowly’, and that evidently the reason they were above the maximum time was due to their appropriate actions and take no further action.

“However, the stewards noted that in most of the incidents the fact that other cars were making a gap at the end of the lap influenced the drivers trying to maintain their delta time. The drivers are reminded once again that no car may be driven unnecessarily slowly and the Stewards will continue to monitor the issue closely.”

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