Carlos Sainz hit with grid penalty for Jeddah… then FIA cancels it minutes later. Carlos Sainz was handed a penalty after the Bahrain GP, to be served in Jeddah, but the FIA later reversed the decision.

Not the season start he was expecting. After racing with one of the top teams on the grid, he ended up in another historic team, but now in the midfield. His adventure with Williams has truly started on the wrong foot. We’re obviously talking about Carlos Sainz, who leaves Bahrain with a big question mark: the stewards hand him a heavy penalty to be served at the next GP, but then they withdraw it. What’s going on?

In these first rounds of 2025, the Spanish driver has struggled a lot. In Australia, for example, his race ended after just two laps, when he lost control of the car under the Safety Car. In both China and Japan, with completely favorable weather conditions, his performance never came alive. Only one point came his way, following Ferrari’s double disqualification.

But here in Bahrain, at the Sakhir circuit, the situation changed. On a track he knows well, having carried out preseason testing here, Carlos Sainz found his speed again. In qualifying he made it into Q3, finishing eighth ahead of Lewis Hamilton. In the race, he was consistently running in the points.

For most of the 57 laps, the former Ferrari driver’s position was solid. Firmly in the top 10, good wheel-to-wheel battles, strong defending. Unfortunately, due to contact with Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull, his weekend ended in retirement. There wasn’t much time to dwell on a real missed opportunity, as the focus already shifted to the next race in Saudi Arabia.

The fifth round might start uphill for Carlos Sainz. After the race, in fact, the stewards handed him a heavy 10-second penalty. The reason for the sanction was forcing Andrea Kimi Antonelli off the track during a hard-fought battle in Turn 10.

According to the FIA document published at 19:58 Italian time, since he couldn’t serve it in Bahrain, it would be converted into a three-place grid penalty at Jeddah and two penalty points on his licence. However, the situation has been completely turned around because, in a second document issued at 20:35, the stewards cancelled the harsh penalty for Saudi Arabia. Likely, the team served the penalty before car no. 55 retired.