Williams Racing have submitted a ‘Right of Review’ to the FIA following the clash between their driver Carlos Sainz and Visa Cash App Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort, Holland, last weekend. Sainz was given a 10-second time penalty by race stewards following the incident while the cars were running seventh and eighth, straight after a safety car restart at the end of Lap 26.
While Lawson was leading, Sainz took to the outside line only for the front-right of his car to clip Lawson’s left rear wheel. Both drivers punctured sending them to the back of the field and ultimately finishing outside the points.
Sainz was deemed be at fault and handed a 10-second penalty. Now the Williams team have sought a review issuing the following statement:
‘We can confirm we have submitted a Right of Review to the FIA relating to Carlos’ penalty in Zandvoort.
It is important for us to understand how to go racing in future, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome.’
Team Principal James Vowles, in the following video, deems it as a racing incident, not requiring a penalty. His interpretation is that Lawson’s car ‘snapped’ moving the car into Sainz’s line, momentarily losing control of the car due to the wake of the Ferrari ahead, not Sainz fault at all.
This is different to a leading car (into a corner) being able to wash-out wide, compared to the ‘snap’ Lawson experienced.
This is quite subjective and the weakness in Vowles’ argument is the admission that Sainz wasn’t trying to pass at all, which begs the question ‘Why was he in that position of a potential incident?’
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