Formula One F1 – Canadian Grand Prix – Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal, Canada – June 17, 2023 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. looks towards the damage on his car after crashing during the final practice session REUTERS/Evan Buhler
MONTREAL-Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was handed a three-place grid drop at the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix for unnecessarily impeding Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in the first phase of Saturday’s qualifying.
The Spaniard had qualified in eighth position for the race but the penalty meant teammate Charles Leclerc moved up one position from 11th.
Stewards found Sainz to have been “predominantly to blame” for an incident that forced Gasly onto the runoff area and wrecked his chance of progressing to the second phase.
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer said what happened was ‘ridiculous’.
“Terrible. I think Pierre would have been P6 (sixth in the first phase) and now he’s out of Q1. He would have been P6 had he just had a normal third sector. Not even a great one,” he told Sky Sports television.
Gasly, who will start Sunday’s race in 17th place, exclaimed over the team radio at the time that Sainz “should be banned for such a thing”.
“I don’t think any words can express the disappointment and the frustration right now,” the Frenchman told Sky later.
“You put so much work into free practice, building a weekend, extracting everything…we did everything right, that lap was good enough for top six even if I lost a couple of tenths with a bit of traffic.
“Carlos did the worst job possible, staying completely in the racing line and for me that’s completely unacceptable and unfair. I just have no words to explain what’s happened here.”
Gasly, who was penalized for impeding Sainz at the previous race in Spain, said all the drivers knew the dangers of the last chicane and needed to pay extra attention.
“The bare minimum is to at least be off-line…it was extremely dangerous because if I smash into him at 300 he puts himself in danger and also myself.
“Today he just ruined my entire day.”