Why Carlos Sainz received a post-race 5-second penalty in Miami

Why Carlos Sainz received a post-race 5-second penalty in Miami. Let's explore why Carlos Sainz was penalized by the stewards at the Miami GP.

The outcome of the race that saw Lando Norris triumph was altered a few hours after the end of the event. Let’s explore why Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz was penalized by the stewards at the Miami GP.

The basis for the penalty lies in what happened with Oscar Piastri. After being, in Carlos Sainz’s words, “pushed off the track” by the McLaren driver, the Ferrari driver made a borderline overtaking maneuver that resulted in contact with car number 81. The young Australian talent was then forced to return to the pits to change the damaged front wing from the contact with the Spanish driver.

The Reason Behind the Penalty
Several hours after the checkered flag, the stewards decided to impose a five-second penalty on Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari driver even had a point deducted from his Super License.

In the statement released by the race direction, the reason for the penalty can be read. “The stewards listened to Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, and representatives of both teams after reviewing the footage of the incident. It emerged that car number 55 overtook number 81 in turn 17 while losing control of the rear, resulting in the breaking of the front wing of car number 81,” the document states.

“It was clear that Carlos Sainz deserved a penalty for the contact. In the overtaking attempt, car 55 braked late, missed the apex, and lost the rear, leading to the collision. Moreover, Oscar Piastri had left enough space.”

“Given the circumstances, we deemed that the main responsible for the incident was Carlos Sainz. However, it was considered that, if car number 55 had not lost the rear, there would have been no contact and it would have been merely hard racing. Typically, the penalty for such incidents is ten seconds plus two points on the Super License. Given the reasons mentioned above, we decided to penalize Carlos Sainz with half of the usual penalty.”

Thus, Carlos Sainz was “granted mercy” by the race direction since a ten-second penalty would have dropped him to sixth place, behind Lewis Hamilton.