Sainz Penalized After Crash at the United States Grand Prix
Austin, Texas – Carlos Sainz has been penalized with a five-place grid penalty for the Mexican Grand Prix, following an incident with Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes during the United States Grand Prix. The Williams driver tried to overtake Antonelli at Turn 15 to take seventh place, but locked the brakes and caused contact at the apex of the corner. Sainz was forced to abandon the race due to the damage suffered to his car. For his part, Antonelli dropped down the order, although he finally managed to recover to thirteenth position. According to the Driving Standards Guidelines used by the stewards to assess collisions, Sainz was deemed guilty of the incident. He was given a 10-second penalty and two points on his superlicense.
The statement went on to explain that Sainz argued that he expected Antonelli to leave him space at the apex, but that the latter turned in too early. Sainz locked the brakes when he realized that the collision was inevitable.“Car 55 [Sainz] attempted an overtake on the inside of car 12 [Antonelli] at turn 15 and a collision occurred between the two cars at the apex,” the stewards stated in their statement.
