Carlos Sainz has been given a three place grid penalty for his opening lap accident with Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa at the Canadian Grand Prix. Despite his defense that Grosjean was located in his blind spot, the stewards placed the blame on the Spaniard and felt that a grid penalty for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was warranted.
The incident occurred in turn three. After failing to overtake Fernando Alonso in turn two, Sainz was working to get a good line into turn three. In doing so, he forced Grosjean’s Haas off of the track and onto the grass, after which the pair touched. This sent Sainz’s Toro Rosso out of control into turn three, where it skidded across the track and collected an innocent Felipe Massa. Although Sainz and Massa were damaged beyond repair, Grosjean was able to continue the race, although terribly hindered by a required pit stop for a new front wing.
Carlos Sainz described the incident following the race:
“I had a good start and was in P12, trying to overtake Fernando around the outside of Turn 2… He got better traction than me out of there so I focused on positioning myself to try and attack him into Turn 3 and, all of a sudden, I touched with a Haas that was on my right-hand side… I have to say I never saw the car there, it’s simply a dead angle in my mirrors so I never knew he was there. If I had realized I was there, of course I would’ve been more careful and left some space. Once we collided I was just a passenger, crashed into the wall and that was the end of my race unfortunately. I’d like to say sorry, especially to Felipe, who received a touch from me… I just couldn’t do anything to avoid it. It was a big crash, but I’m fine.”
Romain Grosjean was unhappy with Carlos Sainz and called his maneuver “very, very dangerous”. The stewards agreed with Grosjean’s opinion, calling the move careless and dangerous.
After reviewing the evidence the stewards awarded Sainz a three place grid penalty for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and also added two penalty points to his license. This brings his 12 month total to seven.
