02 April 2023 , 12:17
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Martin Brundle agrees with Carlos Sainz over the Spaniard's time penalty which cost him a points finish at the Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz qualified fifth and, after George Russell suffered an engine failure, was on course to finish the race one place higher. The 12 points would have helped to soften the blow of another poor weekend for Ferrari, who lost Charles Leclerc on the first lap when he span off the track and beached his car in the gravel.
But he didn't get them. After the third standing start of the race – following the second red flag – chaos ensued when several cars came together in the first few corners which prompted another stoppage. One of the incidents involved Sainz, who caught Fernando Alonso and sent his Aston Martin into a spin.
Unlike several others, Alonso was still running and so was allowed to take his place when the final lap procession began. It meant he kept third place and his podium finish, so the spin was not at all costly.
Regardless, the stewards took a dim view of the incident. They slapped Sainz with a five-second time penalty and, because the race was under safety car conditions until the chequered flag, he had no opportunity to try to create a gap behind him to mitigate it.
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As a result, he crossed the line fourth but finished 12th – last of those still running. He was very upset as a result and chose not to speak to the TV cameras for fear of what he might say while feeling so emotional.
"I prefer not to talk right now, honestly. I'm too disappointed," he told Sky Sports. "I'm going to see about things... this is the most unfair penalty I have seen in my life, so I prefer to go to the stewards now, have a conversation with them, and then talk to you guys."
Despite any conversation he might have had, the stewards later released a document confirming the penalty and explaining the decision. In it, the FIA admitted it usually is more lenient on a race restart regarding such incidents, but felt in this case "there was sufficient gap for [Sainz] to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so".
Even though the stewards also said that Sainz was "wholly to blame" for the collision, Sky pundit Brundle feels they should have shown mercy to the Ferrari man. "That’s an inconsistent penalty for Sainz from a standing start in the early corners," he wrote on social media.