Carlos Sainz has been handed a €25,000 fine by the FIA Race Stewards after crossing a live track during qualifying for the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix.
After his dramatic Q3 crash at the Singapore GP, Sainz’s qualifying session looked to set to have further negative consequences.
While on a live track, the Spaniard crossed the pit lane entry, thankfully avoiding cars coming into the pits.
Sainz was summoned to the stewards to answer for his actions. Already facing a P10 start, with the potential to be relegated to the pit lane if the gearbox was too damaged, a Stewards investigation added to the woe.
An hour after the session ended, the Stewards announced their verdict.
Sainz got away relatively unscathed from the incident, receiving a suspended fine, but no reprimand. The Stewards cited “mitigating circumstances” as the reason for the light penalty.
READ MORE: McLaren’s Lando Norris storms to F1 Singapore GP pole
The Stewards’ verdict against Carlos Sainz
In their full statement, the FIA Stewards said: “the driver is fined €25,000, €12,500 of which is suspended for the remainder of the 2024 season on condition that there is no further breach of a similar nature.
“After crashing during Q3 which caused a red flag, Carlos Sainz crossed the track and then crossed the pit entry road.
“The Stewards examined video, questioned the marshals and heard from the driver that he crossed without first obtaining permission from a Marshal.
“The regulations are explicit that this is not permitted and is a potentially very dangerous situation. Further, this was reinforced by the Race Director in a previous drivers’ meeting.
“The Stewards accept that Sainz thought that the track was clear because he was after the pit entry and there was a red flag.
“However, there were still five cars circulating and it was possible that one may make a mistake and not enter the pit lane, or may have entered the pit lane faster than Sainz thought.
“Further, there were potentially other vehicles entering the track that the driver had no knowledge of.
“The Stewards compared this to other penalties that have been given recently, which were given when the track was in race conditions, but under safety car and consider that this is a somewhat less severe case, because of the red flag.
“Further, the driver’s idea that because he was beyond the pit entry is another mitigating circumstance.
“But in light of the explicit regulation reinforced in prior drivers’ meetings the Stewards order the fine which is lower than previous penalties and order half to be suspended for the remainder of the 2024 season, in light of the mitigating circumstances”
Sainz’s fine follows similar incidents and the subsequent punishment handed out to Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton was penalised during last year’s Qatar GP, meanwhile, Norris received the punishment at Miami in May.
