Carlos Sainz presses FIA as Williams seeks review of Zandvoort penalty

Carlos Sainz believes the FIA stewards privately admitted they may have been wrong to penalise him after his clash with Liam Lawson at Zandvoort.

The Spaniard was furious with both his Racing Bulls rival and the officials, and Williams has now filed a ‘right of review’ to have the case reconsidered. Sainz revealed he spoke directly with FIA representatives after the Dutch GP.

"When they saw the evidence, which I don't think they had seen, as to why I had nothing to do with the accident or why it was a racing incident, when they saw it, they came to their senses," he told Spanish reporters.

As a GPDA director, Sainz said the controversy highlights a broader need for consistency. "As a category, this is what we have to improve," he explained.

"That's the only thing I can say when I'm cool. When I'm hot, it would be much harder. But it's clear that what happened cannot happen. It can't be that in some cases it's a penalty and in other cases it's not."

Williams teammate Alex Albon admitted at Monza that the confusion extends into his cockpit. "When I'm racing wheel to wheel, I don't really understand what I can and can't do," he said. "So I end up playing by my own rules, in a way, and deciding what is a fair pass and what is a fair defence. It works for me."

Lawson, however, said he was surprised Sainz never even approached him to discuss the accident. "I didn't hear from him," the New Zealander noted. "I thought that if he was so upset he would want to talk about it, but no. He didn't come and talk to me."