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Carlos Sainz was 'disappointed' after the FIA handed him a 10-place grid penalty for changing the energy store in the F1 Las Vegas GP.
Earlier, during the first practice session of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the track was seemingly not prepared well enough for the cars as a manhole cover came loose as Sainz's Ferrari went over it within the first ten minutes. This damaged his car to a great extent and the session had to be red-flagged concerning the safety issues.
The damage was severe enough for the team to change multiple components on the F1-75, including the energy store. This was Sainz's third energy store, which is more than the allotted number of components, and hence, the grid penalty.
Carlos Sainz was 'disappointed' with the decision the stewards have taken because he feels that the unit only had to be replaced because the track was not prepared.
"Unfortunately, as the session finished the team communicated to me that I was taking a 10-place grid penalty, for something that I have no fault and the team has no fault. This has obviously completely changed my mindset and my opinion on how the weekend is going to go from now on," Racer quoted him as saying.
"You can obviously imagine how disappointed and in disbelief with the situation I am, and you will not see me very happy this weekend," he added.
Sainz was hopeful for the inaugural F1 Las Vegas GP to go in the team's way because the track supposedly suits the car. However, with the penalty, his run might take a completely different turn.
Carlos Sainz lost optimism after grid penalty in Las Vegas
Both Ferraris made it to the top after the end of FP2 in Sin City as Charles Leclerc emerged at the top of the session. The long straights on the track seem to be fitting the cars well enough, and as good as it might sound for the drivers, Carlos Sainz will still have to face the 10-place penalty.
As he told the media, there will be chances to overtake but he was also worried about the future of the sport with such decisions.
"Yes, there will be opportunities (to overtake). But as I said, right now I’m just too disappointed with the outcome and I don’t want to talk too much about the future because what happened today for me is a very clear example of how this sport can be improved in so many ways."
Carlos Sainz further said that there could be a solution to this issue as it was not a usual error in the car and because of this the energy store had to be changed. But since it cannot happen, he stated that it was his turn to "pay the price."
"FIA, teams, rules that could clearly be applied as force majeure for me not to take a penalty, but somehow people always (find) some ways to make the situation worse for an individual and I think in this case it’s my turn to pay the price," Sainz said.
While Ferrari might have found pace over the Red Bulls during the first complete practice session in Las Vegas, their real battle will be with Mercedes. The two teams are separated by just 20 points heading into the final two races of the season, and the battle for the second place is on.
Carlos Sainz, who was well ahead of Lewis Hamilton in Brazil earlier, will have to achieve the highest qualifying position he can to be in a battle with both Mercedes cars in the race.
