FIA Rescind Penalty Points for Sainz

FIA have rescinded two penalty points on Carlos Sainz’s license following a review of his penalty at 2025 Dutch Grand Prix.

Sainz had received a ten-second time penalty for a mid-race collision with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson at Tarzanbocht which ultimately saw him finish 14th in the final classification.

Williams however opted to petition a right of review on 4 September and stewards subsequently met yesterday (12 September) with members of both teams to consider the right to review, as Williams argued that there was “significant” new evidence.

In their evidence, Williams asserted that stewards didn’t have access to the following footage at time of their decision in Zandvoort, Netherlands;

• Footage from 36o degree camera on Sainz’s car
• Football from the rear facing camera on Lawson’s car
• Testimony from Sainz

The footage weren’t available during transmission but downloaded from the camera post-race which Racing Bulls and F1’s Sporting Director acknowledged to be true.

Stewards conceded that when they arrived at the penalty decision, they hadn’t considered the aforementioned footage or Sainz’s view of the incident, and met the criteria to qualify as “new” evidence due to Williams having not had access during the race to the footage.

In regard to “significant” criteria, stewards dismissed the argument that Sainz’s testimony is a justifiable factor but accepted that both pieces of footage met the criteria requirements.

Racing Bulls didn’t contribute any submissions in terms of the review criteria although their Team Principal, Alan Permane referred to the F1 Driving Standards Guidelines, but iterated that his planned submissions would only be relevant if the review criteria was met.

A second hearing was subsequently convened where Sainz acknowledged that he wasn’t entitled to space on the outside line of the corner, but had prepared for the possibility of going off track and re-joining ahead but not for Lawson’s slide mid-corner which caused the collision.

Racing Bulls in response argued that the collision was due to Sainz having driven too closely to Lawson, who had “denied that he was not in control of his car” at the time of his “slight snap” mid corner.

Stewards eventually determined that the penalty had to be rescinded but because Sainz had served his ten-second time penalty during the race, the time penalty couldn’t be rescinded and amended in the classification but Sainz’s two penalty points however were deleted from his license.

Williams’ argument of racing incident however were accepted by stewards as was the fact that the collision was caused by Lawson, but no driver was adjudged “wholly or predominantly to blame for that collision.”

In response to the stewards’ decision, Williams released a public statement thanking them for their consideration and determining that the penalty needed to be rescinded.