Williams will get a right of review for the incident between Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson at Zandvoort. Image: XPB Images
Wheel-to-wheel contact through Turn 1 at Zandvoort left both cars with damage, and neither Sainz nor Lawson scored points.
Sainz was subsequently given a 10-second penalty for contact with Lawson, prompting an outburst from the Williams driver who called the New Zealander “so stupid.”
The Spaniard and the team were left frustrated by the penalty and appealed it, submitting a right to review.
Williams had to present “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned” to have any chance of a U-turn.
Before the review, Williams team principal James Vowles argued it was a racing incident and wanted clarity from the FIA.
The FIA agreed with the evidence presented by Williams and overturned the two penalty points added to Sainz’s superlicence.
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However, the 10-second penalty couldn’t be rescinded as it was served in-race, meaning there was no change to the final classification.
“The Stewards agree with Williams’ characterisation of the collision as a racing incident,” read the FIA report.
“The Stewards are satisfied that the collision was caused by a momentary loss of control by Car 30 [Lawson]. However, in the Stewards’ assessment, no driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for that collision.
“Car 55 [Sainz] contributed to the incident by taking the risk to drive close to, and on the outside of, Car 30 when Car 55 had no right to room there and there was a real possibility that, if the collision had not occurred where it did, Car 55 would run out of track at the exit and/or a collision would have occurred at the exit for which the Driver of Car 55 would likely be predominantly if not wholly to blame.
“The time penalty imposed by the Decision was served by Car 55 during the race. The Stewards have no power to remedy that served time penalty by amending the Classifications but note that the gap between Car 55 to the car ahead in the Final Classification of the race (coincidently Car 30) was 17 seconds.
“The Decision having been rescinded, it follows that the 2 penalty points imposed on the Driver of Car 55 are to be removed.”
Williams issued a statement after the decision.
“We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos’ Zandvoort penalty and are pleased they have now decided he was not at fault and that this was a racing incident,” the statement read.
“While it is frustrating that our race was compromised by the original decision, mistakes are part of motor racing and we will continue to work constructively with the FIA to improve stewarding processes and review the racing rules for the future.”
F1 continues on September 19-21 with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku.