Racing Bulls Breaks Silence on Sainz’s Penalty Reversal After Lawson Clash

Racing Bulls Formula One team principal Alan Permane has opened up about the penalty that was levied on Carlos Sainz at the Dutch Grand Prix after a contact with Liam Lawson.

The two drivers clashed on Lap 27 when Sainz tried to pass Lawson, damaging both cars. The Kiwi driver finished the race in P14, while Sainz finished in P10 after incurring a 10-second penalty for the incident. Two points were also added to the Spaniard’s superlicense.

Williams filed a right of review request with the stewards before the subsequent Italian Grand Prix. To prove Sainz was not at fault, the team handed the FIA stewards fresh evidence that had not been shared earlier.

The stewards scanned the evidence from a 360-degree camera on the Williams FW47 F1 car, rear-facing footage from Lawson’s VCARB 02, and driver testimony. Issuing a final verdict, the stewards overturned Sainz’s penalty, deeming the clash as a racing incident. The two penalty points on Sainz’s superlicense were removed, but the 10-second time penalty served by him during the race was irreversible.

Permane had stated after the Dutch GP that Lawson missed his chance of securing a P5 due to the incident. Now, speaking in Baku, the team boss commented on the penalty reversal and claimed that he does not want drivers to be crashing into each other. He told the media:

“I guess it will open the door to more challenges. I think for a right of review, you need to supply some new significant and relevant evidence. And I think one of the things that they accepted was Carlos didn’t have a chance to talk.

“So his testimony was new evidence. So that if you make a decision in the race, you’re automatically going to have that as a chance to challenge it. I think what we want to see, what everyone wants to see, is racing and close racing and overtaking. And of course, we’re on the wrong end of it, but we don’t want cars to have to follow each other and be bound by this very rigid thing.

“So if it does just open that up a little bit and mean that Carlos could be alongside there, I think everyone will welcome that. We don’t want cars driving into each other, but we also don’t want a procession, do we?”

Williams commented on the penalty reversal after the FIA released its final verdict. It stated:

“We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos’ Zandvoort penalty and are pleased they have now decided he was not at fault and that this was a racing incident.

“While it is frustrating that our race was compromised by the original decision, mistakes are part of motor racing and we will continue to work constructively with the FIA to improve stewarding processes and review the racing rules for the future.”