Sainz fined €25,000 for “potentially very dangerous” track crossing · RaceFans

Carlos Sainz Jnr was penalised twice for infringements during today’s qualifying session.

The stewards fined the Ferrari driver €25,000 (£21,900), half of which is suspended, for crossing the track on foot after he crashed at turn 19 during Q3. The stewards noted Sainz had not obtained permission to cross the track.

“The regulations are explicit that this is not permitted and is a potentially very dangerous situation,” they stated. “This was reinforced by the race director in a previous drivers’ meeting.”

Sainz told the stewards he thought it was safe to cross the track as he did so under red flag conditions after the pit lane entrance.

“However, there were still five cars circulating and it was possible that one may make a mistake and not enter the pit lane, or may have entered the pit lane faster than Sainz thought,” the stewards stated.

“Further, there were potentially other vehicles entering the track that the driver had no knowledge of.”

Sainz’s fine matches that which Lewis Hamilton received for a similar infringement in the Qatar Grand Prix last year.

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“The stewards compared this to other penalties that have been given recently, which were given when the track was in race conditions, but under Safety Car and consider that this is a somewhat less severe case, because of the red flag.

“Further, the driver’s idea that because he was beyond the pit entry is another mitigating circumstance. But in light of the explicit regulation reinforced in prior drivers’ meetings the stewards order the fine which is lower than previous penalties and order half to be suspended for the remainder of the 2024 season, in light of the mitigating circumstances.”

The Ferrari driver crashed as he began his first flying lap in Q1. He was overtaken by Oscar Piastri moments earlier, which appeared to disrupt his preparation to start a timed lap.

“It was a very strange one,” he told the official F1 channel. “I clearly overestimated the grip that I would get from a very cold tyre.

“I had to do a lot of backing off in the last sector to let some cars by. Launching a lap here, you never want to give away any lap time. When I was launching the lap, I went through the bump in [turn 18] and I just had zero grip compared to any other lap of the weekend I had a big moment.

“At one point I thought I could save it, but then it snapped on me and it was a very unfortunate, very bad accident.”

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Sainz was also giving an official warning for an incident in Q1 when he rejoined the circuit via an incorrect route when he went off at turn two.