Zandvoort verdict overturned: Why Carlos Sainz is innocent after all

(Motorsport-Total.com) - Williams' appeal against the penalty Carlos Sainz received at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August was successful. The Williams driver was initially given a ten-second time penalty and two penalty points on his super license for a collision with Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) at Zandvoort.

After a further review by the stewards, the penalty has now been lifted. Williams had presented new evidence suggesting that it was merely a racing accident. As a result, the two penalty points will also be removed from Sainz's super license. However, an adjustment to the race standings is not possible, as the time penalty was already served during the race.

The Grove team expressed satisfaction with the decision in a statement: "We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos' penalty at Zandvoort and are pleased that they have now decided that he was not at fault and that it was a racing accident."

"While it is frustrating that our race was impacted by the original decision, mistakes are part of motorsport. We will continue to work constructively with the FIA ​​to improve stewardship processes and review the rules for future races," Williams added.

What did the FIA ​​say?

The Stewards, who discussed Williams' appeal in a video conference on September 12 , justified their decision as follows: "After a comprehensive review of the matter, including review of the new video footage and after hearing from the drivers of both cars and their team representatives, the Stewards have decided to overturn the decision. The Stewards agree with Williams' assessment that the collision was a racing accident."

"The stewards are convinced that the collision was caused by a momentary loss of control by car 30 (Lawson). However, in the stewards' assessment, no driver was fully or predominantly responsible for the collision. Car 55 (Sainz) contributed to the incident by taking the risk of driving very close and on the outside of car 30, even though car 55 had no claim to the space there."

"There was also a real possibility that, had the collision not occurred at this point, vehicle 55 would have left the track at the exit of the curve and/or another collision would have occurred there, for which the driver of vehicle 55 would probably have been predominantly or even entirely responsible."

"The time penalty imposed during the race has already been served by car 55. The stewards have no authority to subsequently cancel this served penalty by adjusting the race result."

"However, you note that the gap between vehicle 55 and the vehicle classified ahead of it (coincidentally, vehicle 30) was 17 seconds in the final result. Since the decision was overturned, the two penalty points against the driver of vehicle 55 must also be deleted."