Sainz frustrated by grid penalty for Russian GP after Stroll clash
Carlos Sainz was left frustrated in Bahrain after he picked up a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Russia after being blamed for a collision with Lance Stroll.
Stroll came past the pit exit just as Sainz emerged from his stop. Their paths converged at Turn One, where they made heavy contact, putting both cars out of the race. The Toro Rosso driver believed that Stroll should have left him racing room, but Stroll was adamant that Sainz had no right to be trying to pass at that point.
Stroll explained: “I saw Sainz coming out of the pit lane, I was 50 or 60 meters in front of him in the braking zone, and was already turning in and he drove into my side. There is not much else to say, as I have just seen the video and it was ridiculous.”
Meanwhile, Sainz said: “If he had gone around the outside he would have emerged ahead of me after the corner. He chose to take the risk and assume no one was there.”
The FIA reported that the stewards had “reviewed the video evidence which showed that car 18 was on the normal racing line, car 55 left the pit lane and made a very optimistic attempt to pass car 18 into the corner. The Stewards decided that the driver of car 55 was predominately to blame for causing the collision.”
As well as the grid penalty, Sainz received two penalty points on his license. The Spaniard is already facing grid penalties in the not too distant future as Renault power unit problems mean that he has already used three examples of some elements, with penalties starting with number five.
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