F1 | FIA overturns Carlos Sainz penalty after Williams appeal in the Netherlands. The FIA has accepted Williams’ appeal against Carlos Sainz’s penalty in the Dutch Grand Prix.

F1 | Official – FIA announces decision on Carlos Sainz penalty in the Netherlands

The FIA has decided to accept Williams’ appeal against the penalty handed to Carlos Sainz in the Dutch Grand Prix. The official verdict has now been released.

Williams had requested that the FIA review the sanction imposed on Sainz during the Dutch GP at Zandvoort. Yesterday, the first videoconference between the two teams and the stewards was held to present new evidence that could support the case. Just a few minutes ago, the British team issued a statement confirming the outcome of the two meetings.

The episode in question was the contact between Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson at Turn 1 in Zandvoort. The stewards had initially given the Spanish driver a 10-second penalty, which left him visibly surprised on team radio. In post-race interviews, Sainz had already expressed his wish to speak directly with the Federation, although it was not possible at the time.

The Williams statement

Through its official channels, Williams released a statement outlining the FIA’s final decision regarding the incident involving Carlos Sainz in the Netherlands. According to the verdict, the penalty was deemed unjust, as the clash was considered a simple racing incident. This ruling, however, does not change the result of the race, since Sainz had already served the 10-second penalty during the Grand Prix. What it does show is that the stewards were willing to acknowledge a mistake and revise their earlier judgment.

“We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos’s penalty at Zandvoort and we are pleased that they concluded he was not at fault, recognising it as a racing incident. While it is frustrating that our race was compromised by the initial decision, errors are part of motorsport and we will continue to work constructively with the FIA to improve stewarding processes and review race regulations for the future.”

As a consequence, the two penalty points previously added to Sainz’s super licence will now be removed. This brings closure for the British team on an incident that had generated much debate. Stewarding guidelines themselves are often at the centre of discussion, and even at Monza we recently saw cases where the race direction’s decisions left both drivers and teams unconvinced.