On Saturday, the Ferrari driver Carloz Sainz was summoned by the stewards when he held up Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll.
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Carlos Sainz and his Ferrari team were left upset by the FIA stewards’ lack of cohesion following his 25,000 euro reprimand for impeding Lance Stroll in Monaco Grand Prix practice. On Saturday, Sainz was summoned by the stewards when he held up Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll at the conclusion of a lap. The Ferrari driver was given his third reprimand of the 2022 season. The Italian team is definitely not having a good time on the grid after having a solid start to the 2022 season.
While Sainz took responsibility and confessed to Stroll, he was irritated on Sunday night by the inconsistency in penalizing similar offenses. Sainz lost the lead and probable victory on his outlap during a vital pitstop sequence after being bottled up for half a lap by Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, among several other accidents on the principality’s small streets. The extra time allowed Red Bull’s Sergio Perez to overtake him and take the lead, which he maintained until the finish.
During a crucial part of the race, Sainz’s teammate Leclerc was similarly held up by lapped traffic, as the other Williams of Alex Albon appeared in front of Leclerc after switching for fresh tires while the Monegasque driver was still on intermediates. Albon stated he felt he could remain ahead because of the slicks’ greater speed, but he eventually caught up to Leclerc and held him up for a complete lap before driving right at Ste Devote.
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Mattia Binotto, the team’s chief, claimed Sainz’s fine was the wrong decision since he believed his impeding of Stroll was not risky. “We know that the traffic situation in Monaco is always very difficult,” Binotto added. “We did our best, we believe that the impeding he made was certainly not dangerous. We’re not too happy about the fine, we believe it was not the right choice, because we believe that as a team and driver, we did our best in order to avoid it that at the time and not making anything wrong with it.”
Sainz was perplexed as to why neither Williams driver received a penalty in FP3, but he was penalized for a less serious offense in FP3. “I accepted the blame and I apologized to Lance and I don’t understand why other cases are not investigated and other people are not fined for exactly the same thing. It cost us both the same and no further action. That was properly impeding, so this is where we want more clarity and we want more consistency, as simple as that.” expressed Sainz.
