Carlos Sainz receives 3-place grid penalty for interfering with Hamilton

For impeding Hamilton in the second part of qualifying, Carlos Sainz is penalized with a 3-place grid drop, moving him to 15th position, allowing Alonso, Lawson, and Tsunoda to each move up one position.

The stewards judged that the Spaniard had hindered the Ferrari driver at the start of the first corner as the latter was launching into a fast lap.

The Williams driver failed to move off the racing line after completing his final lap in Q2. Hamilton, who was starting a fast lap, caught up with him in the first corner and made a slight swerve to avoid him. The seven-time world champion immediately expressed his displeasure over the team radio but still managed to qualify for Q3, ultimately finishing in 8th position.

Sainz’s defense

In his defense, Carlos Sainz stated: « No one warned me that Lewis was coming at high speed. I think as a team, we were disrupted… I overtook so many cars during my fast lap, and they were all on in-laps. I even overtook Lewis during my fast lap, and the team probably thought he was coming into the pits as well. Then suddenly, he started a fast lap behind me just as I was entering turn 1 to cool down the car, and we missed this information. »

Sainz also specified that Hamilton was in his blind spot and he couldn’t see him coming.

The decision of the commissioners

In response, the commissioners deemed that the *Ferrari* engineers had enough time to warn their driver and applied the standard penalty. In their report, they state: « The team was amply warned that car no. 44 [Hamilton] was on an out lap while car no. 55 [Sainz] was completing his fast lap. There was an interval of more than eight seconds from the moment car no. 44 did not head into the pits to begin a fast lap and the moment car no. 55 could have reacted accordingly if the team had informed the driver. »

« It is to be noted that the standard penalty for this infraction during qualifying, regardless of whether it is the fault of the driver or the team, is a three-place grid penalty, and therefore the stewards deem that the standard penalty should be applied », they concluded.

Sainz’s performance in qualifying

Despite this penalty, Sainz was relatively satisfied with his qualifying session, where he initially secured 12th place: “The session was very tight. Today, I feel that Q3 was possible. I felt good in the car and I have the impression of making progress in the right direction. I just didn’t manage to put all the elements together for a perfect lap and encountered quite a bit of traffic during my fastest lap. But at least I felt much better and Q3 was within our reach. It’s just a shame we didn’t make the cut. But with such a close field, when everything isn’t perfect, that’s how it goes,” he explained.

Sainz also mentioned being disturbed by his off-track excursion during free practice 3, which forced him to regain his confidence before qualifying. « It destabilized me a bit because the way I lost control was strange. So, I lost a bit of confidence in myself. But we did a good reset and made progress during qualifying. »

For tomorrow’s race, where showers are forecasted in the morning, the *Ferrari* driver is waiting to see if the track will be dry or wet at the start. His teammate Alex Albon will start from 9th position, just behind Hamilton.

The updated grid following Carlos Sainz’s penalty 👇#F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/qqnLxN0Eav

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 5, 2025