Revealed: Why Sainz was hit with two pit-lane speeding penalties

Speaking to the media after the race, the Spaniard revealed that the Turn 1 contact damaged the front tyre sensors, which in turn prevented him from activating the pit limiter — a problem that ultimately led to his double penalty.

"We had contact in Turn 1 — he explained - I picked three or four cars side by side. In that contact, we damaged the rim of the first set of tyres, which caused massive vibrations.

He finally added: "So every time we were in the pits, we were getting a penalty. In the end, even though we were on for a points-scoring position today, we just had too many issues with the car — too many problems stemming from that Turn 1 incident."

The Spaniard was eventually forced to retire, bringing his Mexican weekend to an end with no points, while his teammate crossed the line in 12th place.

The Spaniard’s late-race retirement sparked heated debate, as although he parked his Williams safely in the run-off area, the incident still triggered a Virtual Safety Car.

The VSC neutralised the race in line with regulations, but also deprived fans of a potentially thrilling fight for second place between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.

Many argued that the neutralisation was unnecessary, claiming Sainz’s car posed no real danger where it had stopped — yet the FIA later issued a public explanation clarifying why race control decided to deploy the VSC.