Carlos Sainz - Oscar Piastri incident: another unfair penalty for Ferrari

Scuderia Ferrari loses once again in court. The issue involves Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri and the two incidents between the Ferrari and the McLaren driver that took place in the 2024 Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix. Despite the fact that the Spaniard was not particularly at fault for the damage caused to his direct competitor, a five-second time penalty came as expected and led to Carlos Sainz losing fourth place to Sergio Perez. The arguments of the representatives of the Maranello team were of no use, as the FIA, as has been happening for years now, decided not to take them into consideration. Before we analyze the details of the events seen at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, let’s take a step back first.

It’s the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel leads a tightly contested race and is closely followed by the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. On lap 48, the German overshoots at the chicane composed of turns 3 and 4 and re-enters the track, forcing the British driver to lift off the accelerator.

There were no doubts for the race direction, a five-second time penalty was given to the four-time Formula 1 world champion, for re-entering the track dangerously in front of his rival. The decision made by the race stewards was strongly contested by Sebastian Vettel and the Canadian audience, who did not understand the absurd decision, which led to the race being won by the seven-time world champion who just needed to stay in the wake of the Ferrari SF-90 of the German driver to secure the race win. A measure that outraged the media and fans to the point that Formula 1 understood they had made a big mistake.

For this reason, they decided to start the following season with a change in terms of criteria: the rules were more lenient towards on-track battles, even the borderline ones. This excessive freedom of behaviour was held until 2021 when the duel between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the championship title was marked by several questionable incidents. One above all, we will remember the incident at the Monza circuit between the two, where Max Verstappen climbed with his Red Bull on top of Lewis Hamilton’ Mercedes. The Briton was literally saved by the halo. Now, thinking about the present, for some time it seems that the inflexibility of the stewards and race directors has returned to the levels seen before the 2020 season.

F1, Ferrari suffers from judgment disparity

Trying to be always objective despite the sanction concerning the Ferrari team, the penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz following the slight contact with Oscar Piastri seems frankly inexplicable. The front wing of the Australian driver’s single-seater made contact with the right rear wheel of the SF-24 number 55, just enough to damage it and require replacement by the mechanics. The damage caused is evident, we all agree on this. Nevertheless, the dynamics of the close encounter should clearly exonerate the Ferrari driver.

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The Italian car was completely ahead of the his McLaren rival and only a slight loss of rear grip caused the rear end of the red car to slide towards the wing of the MCL38 of the young driver from the Woking team. The “infringement” was immediately noticed, with team representatives and drivers being summoned by race control at the end of the Miami Grand Prix. Late at night in Europe, the official news arrived regarding the penalty imposed on the Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver. An unjust punishment that slipped him from fourth to fifth place in the final standings.

A real mockery with repercussions that are relatively minor, as neither victory nor even a place on the lowest step of the podium was at stake. Nevertheless, a quarter of the way into the 2024 Formula 1 championship, the Prancing Horse’s car without any updates is still showing that it can at least fight for the constructor’s title. In such a scenario, even a few points can make all the difference in the world. Just think of last year when Mercedes edged out Ferrari by just a few lengths at the end of a championship that was dominated by Red Bull.

F1, Ferrari and the mockery of a “lenient” decision

The battle between Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri was one of the liveliest moments of track action in the central stages of the Miami Grand Prix. The two found themselves battling for fourth position, and initially, it was Carlos Sainz who complained about the opponent’s behavior, asking for a penalty via radio after a very aggressive defense by Oscar Piastri against Carlos Sainz’s attack at Turn 11. After reviewing the incident, race control communicated that no action would be taken, and the Spaniard returned shortly after to the rear of the McLaren MCL38. On the long straight leading to turn 17, Carlos Sainz attacked Oscar Piastri using the drag reduction system and exiting the slipstream just moments before initiating the hard braking required at that point. The McLaren driver noticed the Ferrari’s dive at the last moment, but still left enough space to negotiate the corner.

The official report of the F1 race director states that the incident is attributable to car number 55, which, in an attempt to overtake Oscar Piastri, did not reach the apex of the corner, losing the rear of his Ferrari. Within this scenario, it was taken into account, as a mitigating factor, the fact that if it hadn’t been for the slight loss of control of the rear by car 55, the collision probably would not have occurred, and the fight would have been tough but absolutely fair. The standard penalty for such a collision is 10 seconds, with 2 penalty points on the drivers’ licenses.

In light of the mitigating circumstances, the penalty was reduced to a 5-second penalty, with 1 penalty point for the Spanish driver. Unfortunately, it must be noted that the Prancing Horse has been unable to emerge from race control with a victory for a long time, even when, as in this case, it was a normal race incident and dynamic. This is an area, the sporting direction, on which team principal Frederic Vasseur will have to work hard, trying to give the historic Maranello-based team the right consideration. Let’s be clear, we neither expect nor ask for any political advantages, just reasonable decisions towards Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri