F1 News: Martin Brundle Calls For Regulation Change After Carlos Sainz's Unwarranted Las Vegas GP Penalty

There is no rule in place yet that can allow the stewards to overlook the rules and take a fair call.

Former F1 driver and current Sky F1 presenter Martin Brundle suggested that Carlos Sainz's situation during FP1 of the Las Vegas Grand Prix was exceptional and required a distinct approach. Consequently, he called for a reconsideration of the rules, especially after the Ferrari driver received a harsh 10-place grid penalty for introducing a new engine for the race.

Sainz hit a loose drain cover on the track at speeds over 300 kph, which caused heavy damage to his Ferrari SF-23, leading the team to break the rules by adding an entirely new power unit to his car.

Despite the desire of the stewards to excuse this case as an exception since the team and the driver suffered a massive blow for no fault of theirs, Sainz had to take the penalty since the rulebook didn't allow for a provision where he could be let off. 

Expressing his views in his post-race column for Sky F1, Brundle stated that some kind of leniency must be allowed in the rulebook for instances such as this so that such a situation doesn't occur again. He wrote:

“Carlos Sainz’s car had been wrecked by the errant access cover in first practice in a pretty scary way.

“He needed many new parts including a battery pack which would hand him a 10-place grid penalty.

“He was controlled but clearly beyond angry, as were his team who thought the penalty unfair in the circumstances. They also wanted to know who was going to pay for the damage.

“There are hundreds of pages of rules in the International Sporting Code and the specific F1 Sporting and Technical regulations, but nothing which can allow the Stewards to legally turn a blind eye if something just doesn’t seem fair.

“We really must add some wording, with due checks and balances, which can be applied without fear of ensuing legal actions, or teams using it to advantage in other scenarios."

However, there could be instances in the future where teams could take advantage of the leniency to install new parts to their cars, after all, Sainz got a brand new power unit that he used in Las Vegas, and which will be put to use in Abu Dhabi this weekend. Brundle added:

“It’s perilous to write a clause and create a precedent where the Stewards can unilaterally ignore regulations in the name of common sense and fairness in force majeure situations.

“Even if every team and others key bodies agree.”