F1 Stewards Worked Hard Not To Give Sainz Disputed Penalty In Las Vegas Warwick Reveals

Wednesday, 06 December 2023 at 05:00

Le Mans 24 Hours winner and current F1 steward Derek Warwick recently described Sainz's controversial penalty from an F1 steward's perspective.

Carlos Sainz will remember Las Vegas Grand Prix as possibly his unluckiest race of the 2023 season. The Spanish driver, unfortunately, could not compete for the race victory after he was awarded the highly disputed 10-place grid penalty.

Sainz received the 10-place grid penalty for having to change components (out of allocation) on his car due to damage caused by going over a loose manhole cover on the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.

Back when the incident happened, the official document from FIA detailed stewards would not have given the 29-year-old a penalty had it been in their power.

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Following the end of the 2023 season, about two to three weeks after the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Derek Warwick shared how he felt making the decision as one of the stewards. As quoted by Reuters, he said:

"It's a difficult job for a steward, the same as a referee, and we've got to be impartial. We've got to be strict and we've got to be hard sometimes even when it hurts us."

The Le Mans winner revealed it felt wrong for stewards to have to award Sainz a penalty and apparently, they worked hard for it not to happen.

"The penalty we had to give Sainz in Vegas, it felt wrong, it was wrong, we worked very hard for it not to happen but they're the rules."

Mercedes's team principal, Toto Wolff, who was the one calling for the penalty, recently shared he also thought it was unfair and that the only reason he did it was because he was looking after his team as any other team principal would.

Mercedes was the only team that needed Sainz penalized as they were in a very close fight for second place in the Constructors' Championship against Ferrari.

Each point lost for Sainz turned out to be very valuable as the Silver Arrows beat Ferrari by a mere three points at the end of the season. Had Carlos Sainz not received the penalty in Vegas, Ferrari might have been second.