07 April 2023 , 19:28
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Ted Kravitz voiced his sympathy for Carlos Sainz, who was emotional to the point of tears over the penalty he received at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Ferrari star spent much of the Melbourne race running in fourth place, after George Russell retired with a power unit problem. And his team needed those 12 points desperately, after team-mate Charles Leclerc span out on the first lap and got beached in the gravel.
But everything changed in a chaotic late race restart. There were just two laps left when everyone shot off the start line, knowing that the reward for completing a couple of overtakes was high, and the perhaps inevitable result was several crashes.
Logan Sargeant smashed into the back of Nyck de Vries, taking them both out, while Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ended up in the wall after they collided. Fernando Alonso was spun by Sainz, but kept his engine running so was still in the race when it was red flagged for the third time that afternoon.
It was decided that the race would end behind the safety car, in the same order they were in at the previous restart, minus those who had crashed out. So Alonso did not suffer for being spun as he finished third anyway, but Sainz was punished regardless with a five-second time penalty.
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While usually not a significant blow, because the race finished under yellow flags Sainz was unable to mitigate for the penalty. So that extra five seconds dropped him from fourth on the road to dead last of those who finished the race.
"It's unacceptable. Tell them, it's unacceptable. They need to wait until the race is finished and discuss it with me," he raged just before that final lap behind the safety car. "Please. Ask them please, please, please, please to wait and discuss it with me. Clearly, the penalty is too severe."
Sainz could be heard crying in his car over the radio after the race (Sky Sports)Those pleas fell on deaf ears and, after taking the chequered flag, the Spaniard was heard crying over the radio over the injustice of the situation. At first, he chose not to speak to the media without seeking an audience with the stewards, and later asserted it was "the most unfair penalty I've seen in my life".
Kravitz, speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, said he understood why the Spaniard was so upset given Alonso had suffered no consequences and that the lap, technically, never took place. "Maybe Sainz's thoughts about this was that it never happened," he said.
"You're putting the Astons back in, like what happened with Sainz never happened. Yet you're penalising Sainz for the thing that happened, but didn't happen because the Astons are still there. And there's no foul. So, if there's no harm, Sainz is thinking there's no harm to Fernando, then there's no foul on me.
Carlos Sainz was seething with his penalty (Sky Sports)"He was in tears. If you listen to the team radio at the end of the race, he was crying on the radio after the race." Kravitz went on to explain that the face the five-second penalty would have a more devastating effect on Sainz was not a factor which could be considered by the stewards.
He added: "They can't take into account the effect of the penalty – otherwise, that would confuse everything. I think Sainz's point was that it was on 'Lap 1' where there's always a little bit more leniency. 'If you penalise me for that, then you have to penalise Lance Stroll for taking out my team-mate, even though it wasn't really Lance's fault, but he's saying it wasn't really my fault.
"And you have to penalise Pierre Gasly for taking out Esteban Ocon, which wasn't really either of their fault because it was a racing incident, because Gasly came on and didn't see Ocon'. That is Sainz's point – that there was a fundamental inconsistency. I think he put it quite strongly, but he was emotional – you can understand why."