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Sainz hit with five-second time penalty after collision with Piastri in Miami Grand Prix
Carlos Sainz has been hit with a five-second time penalty – along with one penalty point on his licence – after being deemed to have caused a collision with Oscar Piastri during the Miami Grand Prix.
Sainz had been attempting to overtake the McLaren into Turn 17 during the latter stages of the race when he slightly lost the rear of his Ferrari and made contact with the Australian’s car. This resulted in Piastri picking up damage on his front wing, forcing him to make a pit stop which dropped him down the order.
After a stewards’ hearing attended by both drivers and their respective team representatives, it was decided that Sainz was to blame for the incident, with the Spaniard having missed the apex after braking late, which then caused him to lose the rear. The stewards stated that Piastri had given “sufficient room” for Sainz.
However, it was also taken into account that, without Sainz slightly losing the rear, the collision would “likely not have happened”, meaning that the standard penalty of 10 seconds and two penalty points was changed to a five-second penalty and one penalty point.
Sainz had originally crossed the line in fourth, but the penalty will drop him down to fifth, subsequently promoting Sergio Perez up into P4.
Piastri ultimately ended the event down in P13 following the incident, despite earlier enjoying a strong start to the race in which he was running in second place for a number of laps.
It proved to be a reasonably busy day for the stewards in Miami. During the race Kevin Magnussen was handed a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for causing a collision with Logan Sargeant, while Lance Stroll also received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.
Magnussen was then hit with a further punishment after the event, where he was given a drive-through penalty for entering the pits during a Safety Car period and not changing tyres, an incident that the Haas team admitted was an “error on their part”.
With this decision being taken following the race, the penalty was converted to 20 seconds being added to Magnussen’s final time, dropping him from P18 to the final classified position of P19.
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