Carlos Sainz's Controversial Australian Grand Prix Penalty: What Happened?

The events after Carlos Sainz's controversial Australian Grand Prix penalty.

Carlos Sainz's excellent performance in the Australian Grand Prix came to a disappointing end when he received a five-second penalty for a minor error on the last restart. The mistake caused him to tap Fernando Alonso, triggering a chain reaction of chaos on the circuit. Despite the incident not impacting Alonso's result, Sainz was penalised and fell outside the points.

The penalty has been shrouded in controversy after fans picked up on Logan Sargeant and the two Alpine driver's Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon having a similar situation on the same restart, but being penalised at all. Here is what went down. 

Ferrari's Reaction to the Penalty

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur expressed his incomprehension and deemed the penalty unjust, especially for its swiftness. He pointed out the frustration of the decision being taken so quickly, leaving no time for Sainz to tell his side of the story. Vasseur added that the decision had no impact on the podium, making it even more frustrating. He explained:

"My biggest frustration is that the decision is taken so quickly while it has no impact on the podium. You don't give time now to let Sainz tell his story. We had a good race with Carlos, it's a shame that this decision is taken so quickly.''

Sainz's Reaction to the Penalty

Carlos Sainz was furious after receiving the penalty and believed it to be a disgrace. He stated that he wanted to speak to the stewards before commenting further. He said directly after the race:

"I am not going to comment on this until I have spoken to stewards and they reverse the decision. It is the biggest disgrace I have seen in years in this sport. I can't say anything because I'm going to regret that. I want to speak to the stewards first."

In the hours following the race, Sainz reflected on the penalty, stating that it ruined all his effort and he didn't agree with it. However, he tried to focus on the positives of his race and looked forward to the next one. He explained:

"I had a good start and felt confident on the medium tyre but we were unlucky, pitting just before they brought out the first red flag and I dropped down to P11. From there I managed to pull off a good comeback with nice overtakes and solid pace, so for that I’m happy.

"It was a good race overall but the penalty ruined all the effort and I don’t agree with it. The frustration I feel right now will be difficult to digest, but I will try to think only of the positives from today and focus on the next race."

Fans and Alonso's Disagreement with the Penalty

Fans were outraged by the penalty decision and expressed their discontent on behalf of Sainz. Even Alonso disagreed with the punishment, stating that he didn't believe Sainz meant to make contact with him and that the penalty was harsh. The Spanish driver commented:

"On the contact with Carlos [Sainz] after the restart I’m sure he didn’t mean to do it so I think the penalty for him was quite harsh in the end."

FIA's Defence and Ferrari's Appeal

The FIA released the letter from the stewards explaining why the penalty was given after receiving a huge amount of backlash from fans, which read:

"Car 55 [Carlos Sainz] was wholly to blame for the collision. Car 14 [Fernando Alonso] was significantly ahead at the first corner and nevertheless, Car 55 drove into Car 14."

Ferrari also petitioned for a review of the case, pointing out that other drivers who made the same mistake were not penalised, and called for more consistency in the stewards' decisions. Vasseur spoke about the appeal in the week after the race, explaining:

“We did the petition for the review of the case. We sent it today to the FIA.

“As we are discussing with the FIA I don’t want to discuss any details of this discussion. The only thing is that about Ocon-Gasly, also Sargeant-De Vries, Turn 1 - the reaction of the stewards wasn’t the same.

“The process is that first they will have a look at our petition to see if they can re-open the case and then we will have a second hearing about the decision itself.

“What we can expect is to have an open discussion with them but also for the good of the sport - to avoid having these kind of decisions when you have three cases on the same corner but not the same decision.” 

F1 Insider's Thoughts

Former F1 driver and Sky Sports pundit Karun Chandhok was one of many who has criticised the inconsistency in the stewards' decisions during the Australian Grand Prix. He compared Sainz's penalty to the lack of punishment for Logan Sargeant's similar incident and called for more consistency in the stewards' decisions. 

Chandhok stated that Sargeant's lack of penalty made Sainz's punishment seem even more harsh. He said:

"Penalties should be consistent across the field.

“The fact this was completely ignored makes the penalty for Carlos Sainz seem even less fair.

“I should say that whilst I agree that Carlos was more at fault for that incident, the part I think is unfair is that a five second penalty during a Safety Car finish seems to be disproportionate to the crime.”