Carlos Sainz has called for an urgent review into Formula 1’s driving standard guidelines after Oscar Piastri’s “unacceptable” penalty in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
On media day in Las Vegas, Grand Prix Drivers' Association director Sainz came to the defence of Piastri, who picked up a race-wrecking 10-second time penalty in Brazil for colliding with Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, which was subsequently sent into Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Even Leclerc, who was taken out of the race by the contact, had already defended Piastri after the race, believing he didn’t deserve a penalty any more than Antonelli did.
Now Sainz has called for a swift review of the driver guidelines.
“I think we need urgently a catch-up and try and solve it because for me the fact that Oscar got a penalty there in Brazil is unacceptable, honestly, for the category that we are in and being the pinnacle of motorsport,” Sainz.
Asked to explain why, Sainz said: “I'm not going to explain why, I think you all guys saw what happened.
“I think everyone that seen racing knows that that is not Oscar's fault at all. Everyone else who has really raced a race car knows he could have done nothing to avoid an accident there.”
That incident only added to Sainz’s frustration with the way the guidelines have been applied this year, having initially been handed a penalty at Zandvoort for an incident with Liam Lawson - a decision that was later overturned after a right of review from Williams.
And he disagreed with the penalty Ollie Bearman got for their contact one week later at Monza.
“It's, for me, it's something that I don't understand. I didn't understand my Zandvoort penalty. I didn't understand why Ollie got a penalty when we both collided in Monza,” Sainz added.
“He was not deserving of that penalty and I told him straight out of the race, I didn't understand how I caught a 10-second penalty in Austin [for colliding with Antonelli].
“And then the Brazil situation, so there's been not one but multiple incidents this year that are, for me, are far, far from where the sport should be.”
What’s the fix?
Drivers will meet with the FIA at the next round in Qatar to talk through various issues, including the driving standard guidelines.
One debate around them is whether they should be treated as strict guidelines or whether stewards should be able to use more discretion than they’re currently using to make decisions.
“It's difficult to judge because it could go both ways. You could criticise the way the guidelines are written,” Sainz said.
“We ask the stewards to obviously apply those guidelines as firmly as possible and the stewards are just doing their job or are the guidelines guidelines and the stewards should take them as guidelines and not as black or white,
“I'm not sure what the solution is. I think it needs to be discussed among all of us. It is very clear for me that after what I saw in Brazil, something's not quite working if we have to judge that as a 10 second penalty for the guy that had no fault for anything that he did.”
Sainz believes racing incidents are “less likely because there's always one exact scenario that happens, which is depending on where the car is and what happens”, and he aired his frustration at how lock-ups are misconstrued.
“Another thing that I struggle with is lock-ups,” he explained.
“I think whenever we see a lock-up, I think the steward immediately interprets that as out of control. And a lock-up does not always mean out of control. You can lock-up and still make the apex.
“I locked up in Austin in reaction to a move that Kimi did and Oscar reacts, locks up in Brazil in reaction too.
“So it's not like we were out of control and we were gonna miss the apex, crash and create a massive accident.
“I think it's also something that needs to be reviewed.”
Williams team-mate Alex Albon isn't sure if things will change for the better.
"I don't know if you've seen our drivers' briefings, they can go on forever," Albon said.
"And drivers have different opinions on all sorts of subject matters.
"Personally I'm not sure how we'll ever find a solution, but it might just always be the case. It's always going be like this.
"I guess I'm not that optimistic in an approach, but yeah, I'm just kind of focused on my own way of racing."
He joked "that's why I don't want to be George [Russell] or Carlos to be a head of the GPDA]".
How to create ‘muscle memory’ among drivers
Sainz once again called for permanent stewards, believing they’d know when to apply penalties, even without guidelines.
“With good stewarding, they truly understand racing really well. And consistent stewarding through the year, we would develop an understanding among us and you would know when it's your fault,” Sainz said.
“They would know when it's someone's fault and not.
“This is more my perception of things. I think if we had three fixed guys, the same way that we have a fixed risk director, and we know the way they've been applying penalties through years, and we create that muscle memory or that memory of how they tend to rate penalties or no penalties,
“I honestly think even without guidelines, we know when it's someone's fault or when it's in bold racing.”
Sainz added: “I don't have the perfect solution. I have that in my head as a possibility. I think we've never raced with always same stewards rating all of the incidents for a cumulative of years or races.
“But that's why that's the one thing we haven't never tried that I would potentially try.”
