Las Vegas F1 steward admits “we tried not to penalize Carlos Sainz, but…”. Derek Warwick tries to explain the reasons for the penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz in Las Vegas.

According to one of the four stewards present at the 2023 Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Derek Warwick, the penalty imposed on Carlos Sainz was inevitable. The Spanish driver had suffered significant damage to his Ferrari SF-23 car due to a poorly secured manhole cover on the track. The irreparable damage to the power unit (PU) forced Scuderia Ferrari to replace it for the rest of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, accompanied by an inevitable grid penalty. But was it truly “inevitable”?

A month has passed since that unfortunate weekend in the United States. The Ferraris had arrived in Las Vegas in a heated battle with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship. With the strength shown by Charles Leclerc (as well as Carlos Sainz) in qualifying and Free Practice, a potentially fortunate race was anticipated. Instead, Lady Luck chose to rebuff Maranello.

A poorly secured manhole cover on the track: that was enough to crush Carlos Sainz’s hopes and spoil the Reds’ comeback.

There were many speculations in the hours following the incident. Some talked about the possibility of a unanimous decision by the teams to grant an exception to Ferrari. Mercedes, of course, the direct competitor in the Constructors’ Championship, would have opposed this exception. In one of our articles, Jacopo Moretti explained well how this scenario was still unlikely.

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Weeks later, confirmation also comes from Derek Warwick, who was one of the race commissioners in Las Vegas: “The penalty given to Sainz seemed unfair, and it truly was. We tried in every way to avoid it, but these are the rules.”

Derek Warwick, who was recently present at the Autosport Awards, clarified that the option of granting an exception to Ferrari was considered, but the regulations did not allow for it. Thus, perhaps one of the most “unjust” chapters of the season comes to a close.