F1 News: Max Verstappen Brands Carlos Sainz's Penalty "Harsh" After Taking Second Position

Max Verstappen criticised the "harsh" 10-place grid penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen called Carlos Sainz's 10-place grid penalty "very harsh," criticising the involvement of teams in such decisions. Verstappen's comments followed Sainz's setback due to engine part replacements after hitting a drain cover during FP1 of the Las Vegas GP.

Key Takeaways:

• Carlos Sainz suffered a severe blow at the Las Vegas Grand Prix when his Ferrari was damaged by a drain cover, impacting vital components like the engine, Energy Store, and Control Electronics.
• Despite Ferrari's efforts to bypass the standard penalty, citing the damage as a result of extraordinary external factors, their request was denied based on the strict adherence to the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations.
• The stewards applied Article 2.1 of the Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, leading to the mandatory 10-place grid penalty for Sainz, as dictated by Article 28.3.

During the opening practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz experienced an unfortunate incident as his Ferrari hit a drain cover, causing significant damage. The impact affected not only the engine but also the Energy Store and Control Electronics of his vehicle.

Ferrari, recognising the unusual nature of the incident, sought exemption from the penalties typically associated with such replacements. They requested the stewards to allow a replacement of the Energy Store without the standard grid penalty, arguing that the damage was caused by extraordinary external factors. However, the stewards, upon reviewing the regulations and the presented evidence, declined this request.

Max Verstappen, in the post-qualifying press conference, expressed his views on this decision. He termed the penalty as "very harsh," suggesting that there should be a change in the rules for such incidents. 

"The rules have to change for that. It's the same if you get taken out and have a big accident. You can lose parts of engine, energy store, all these kind of things.

"So first of all that needs to change and these things can be taken into consideration that you can take a free penalty or not, it will not be counted.

"Besides, I think teams should not be allowed to have a say in these kind of things because for sure they are going to vote against that. I do think it's very harsh on Carlos but in this political environment we are in of course every team thinks about themselves and they are going to say 'no, he has to take the penalty.'"