Carlos Sainz will drop three places on the grid for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid after the FIA stewards handed him a penalty following a qualifying impeding incident with Valtteri Bottas.
The ruling came after Saturday’s qualifying session, where Sainz was classified 17th and Fernando Alonso was eliminated in Q1 in 18th place. The stewards reviewed video, timing, team radio and in-car video evidence before deciding that Sainz had unnecessarily impeded Bottas at Turns 6 and 7 during the closing minutes of Q1.
According to the FIA stewards, the team failed to inform the driver of Car 55 about Car 77 closing in on a flying lap, and the driver did not take any action to make way for the incoming car. Their conclusion was direct: Car 55 unnecessarily impeded Car 77.
What the penalty changes
The penalty affects Sainz’s starting position rather than the race result itself. Instead of lining up 17th, he is set to start 20th for Sunday’s race.
That is a notable setback for the Madrid-born driver as he prepares for his first home race at the Madring circuit, the new home of the Spanish Grand Prix. Even before the penalty, Sainz described the session as a difficult one, saying the team did not execute a very good qualifying run and that the whole session was not the best.
He also pointed to a problem on the straights, noting that he was losing a couple of tenths there and that the team would need to investigate where it was coming from. Sainz added that the final run started too early, with a lot of track evolution still to come.
For Sainz, the penalty is another change in a weekend that was already going to be about managing damage after a tough Saturday. For the rest of the field, it means a revised starting order and an unexpected lift for the drivers who move up a place behind him on the grid.
