Sainz Penalized: Loses Positions in Mexico GP Due to Collision with Antonelli

AUSTIN, Texas – Carlos Sainz will face a grid penalty at the Mexican Grand Prix after an incident at the United States Grand Prix. The driver collided with Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes during Sunday’s race. The incident occurred when Sainz was trying to overtake Antonelli for seventh place at Turn 15, but locked the brakes and made contact. Sainz had to abandon the race due to the damage to his car, while Antonelli fell in the qualifying, eventually finishing in 13th position. According to the Driving Standards Guidelines used by the stewards, Sainz was found guilty of the crash and received a 10-second time penalty, as well as two penalty points on his superlicense.

Because Sainz was unable to finish the race, the time penalty turned into a five-place grid penalty for the Mexican Grand Prix.

Car number 55 (Sainz) attempted an overtake on the inside of car number 12 (Antonelli) at turn 15 and a collision occurred between the two cars at the apex.

Stewards’ statement

The commissioners’ statement also added:

The driver of car number 55 maintained that he expected the driver of car number 12 to leave him space at the apex, but car number 12 closed before and car number 55 locked the brakes when it became apparent that the collision was inevitable.

Stewards’ statement

In the statement, it is explained that Sainz suggested that the driver of car number 12 should have anticipated the overtaking attempt of car number 55 and left space to avoid contact. However, at no point before the apex was the front axle of car number 55 alongside or ahead of the mirror of car number 12. Therefore, according to the Driving Standards Guidelines, car number 55 had not earned the right to be given space at the apex. The stewards determined that the driver of car number 55 was primarily responsible for the collision and the corresponding penalty was applied.