The stewards have issued a formal reprimand to Carlos Sainz Jr. for his conduct following his crash at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
They determined that the Ferrari driver created a “potentially dangerous situation” by attempting to drive away while marshals were beginning the recovery of his car. The stewards concluded that Sainz’s actions resulted in a misunderstanding between him and the marshals.
Sainz crashed at Laranjinha on the 39th lap of the race. “The marshals were quickly on the scene to recover the car,” the stewards explained. “The driver removed the steering wheel, indicating to the marshals that he was abandoning the car.”
“The team then informed the driver that they thought the car was safe to continue. The driver replaced the steering wheel while the marshals had started to feed the recovery loop through the roll hoop of the car.”
After conversing with Sainz, the stewards noted that “the driver admitted that he was not aware that the marshals had commenced the recovery procedure.”
“The marshals, recognizing that the driver was going to attempt to restart, aborted the recovery attempt just as the driver drove the car away.”
Sainz later stopped his car and did not continue in the race.
“The driver admitted that he did not know that the marshals had started the recovery procedure and accepted that removing the steering wheel was a clear indication of his intention to abandon the car. A potentially dangerous situation was created that was avoidable by the driver solely,” they concluded.
The Ferrari driver faced difficulties throughout both qualifying and the grand prix in Interlagos, stating he could not explain the issues he encountered in the wet conditions.
“I had two crashes that honestly I cannot explain very well,” Sainz told the official F1 channel.
“It’s very unpredictable; this car this year in the wet has been extremely difficult to drive. At the same time, I apologize to the team for two mistakes because obviously, it cost us. But starting from the line, it’s not like we were going to score a lot of points. So let’s turn the page and come back stronger.”
