A busy time in the stewards office after the end of qualifying for the Qatar grand Prix on friday night at Lusail International Circuit has finished with Carlos Sainz being handed a formal warning for ‘erratic’ driving.
Sainz was called to explain his actions during the second round of qualifying in which he was observed to weave ahead of Max verstappen to prevent the Red Bull from passing him for track position to make a flying lap run.
Sainz told the stewards he did not want to be overtaken by his rival who had just come out of the pits, as he had to obey the maximum time between the two safety car lines.
Stewards heard from both drivers and reviewed video data and other related telemetry related to the incident, and concluded that Sainz went too far in his efforts to keep the Red Bull behind him.
- Read also: Verstappen cruises to Qatar pole with title looming
“[Sainz] stated that he could not afford being passed by another car as he had to stay below the maximum lap time between SC lines two and one,” the official FIA statement from the stewards stated.
“Whilst this was accepted by the stewards as well as by [Verstappen], the measures taken by [Sainz] were deemed to be unnecessary given the fact that the incident happened in qualifying and cars are not supposed to directly race each other while preparing for flying laps.
“The stewards determine that a warning is appropriate on this occasion given the circumstances,” it concluded. A formal warning is considered the mildest penalty a driver can be given for an incident during qualifying.
Unlike reprimands, they don’t build up and potentially result in a penalty such as a one-race ban. Sainz did not receive any reprimand on points on his superlicence for the incident.
The stewards also investigated a number of drivers for not driving fast enough on out-laps, meaning they exceeded the mandated maximum time.
Mercedes driver Hamilton, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri team mates Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were all summoned over a total of six similar offences (twice for Hamilton and Tsunoda) between them.
However the stewards decided not to hand out any penalties noting that five of the incidents could be judged clearly from video evidence.
Only Hamilton was required to meet the stewards in person over the remaining incident, but they were happy that the circumstances meant penalties were not called for.
“The drivers took appropriate actions to not impede other drivers, and in all cases they slowed down significantly to allow other drivers to pass while giving those drivers a clear track.”
“The stewards therefore determine that they did not drive ‘unnecessarily slowly’, and that evidently the reason they were above the maximum time was due to their appropriate actions and take no further action.”
However the stewards did note that “in most of the incidents the fact that other cars were making a gap at the end of the lap influenced the drivers trying to maintain their delta time.
“The drivers are reminded once again that no car may be driven unnecessarily slowly and the Stewards will continue to monitor the issue closely,” the official FIA statement concluded.
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