From the Ferrari wall they were wrong to send Carlos Sainz to the track during the last free practice session of the 2022 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix. The man from Madrid got in the way of Fernando Alonso and forced the Asturian to stop in the middle of the pit lane to avoid a collision.
Immediately, the stewards called Carlos Sainz to take statements from him about what happened and, after listening to his explanations, they finally ruled out the sanction. The Spanish Ferrari driver thus avoided the penalty, but took his first reprimand of the season.
According to the statement issued by the FIA ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz breached “Article 34.14(a) of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations”.
“The Stewards listened to the driver of the #55 car (Carlos Sainz) and the team representative, and examined the available video evidence.”
“Car 55 left the garage getting into the path of car 14 (Fernando Alonso), causing car no. 14 to stop in the pit lane. The driver admitted that he was to blame for this incident due to a misunderstanding of the signs of communication with the respective mechanic, aggravated by their lack of vision to the side of the car”.
“The Sporting Stewards determine that this is a clear infringement of the previous regulations and issue a warning to pilot 55 (Carlos Sainz). Given the circumstances, the stewards do not consider that this is ‘necessary to sanction the pilot’, relying on the writings of article 18.2 of the Sporting Regulations”.
“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits. “, concluded the official statement from the FIA.
In this way, Carlos Sainz will be able to continue in the 2022 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix without any problem that would have turned upside down a weekend that a priori seems to be very promising for Ferrari.
