According to FIA steward Derek Warwick, it was not right to give Carlos Sainz a grid penalty during the race weekend in Las Vegas after his car was seriously damaged by a loose manhole cover. However, Warwick felt powerless when he and his fellow stewards had to impose the grid penalty.
During the first practice session of the Las Vegas GP, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari F1 car was almost literally torpedoed by a loose manhole cover on the circuit (VIDEO: The moment Carlos Sainz drives over a loose manhole cover and severely damages his F1 car). Everyone agreed that it was a fault of the circuit and the organiser, in this case ironically Formula 1 itself, but nevertheless Carlos Sainz was given a grid penalty because he had to use an extra copy of the energy storage system with which he was about the maximum number of permitted copies.
Ferrari submitted a request not to impose a grid penalty due to ‘force majeure’, something for which the stewards were quite sympathetic, but there was no option in the sporting regulations to allow this. As a result, Sainz had to start the race from twelfth place and, given Ferrari’s strong performance in Las Vegas, Ferrari may even have lost a victory.
When he looks back at the much-discussed incident in Las Vegas, FIA steward Derek Warwick makes it clear that he also thought the punishment was ‘wrong’.
“It’s a difficult job to be a steward, the same goes for a referee, we have to be impartial,” Warwick told Reuters. “We have to be strict and sometimes tough, even when it hurts ourselves.”
“The penalty we gave to Carlos Sainz in Las Vegas felt wrong, it was wrong, we tried hard not to let it happen but these were the rules.”