Verstappen’s critical of Sainz’s penalty: ‘Harsh on Carlos’

During FP1, Carlos Sainz has to stop on track after hitting a water valve cover, completely out of his fault. The Spaniard received a 10-place grid penalty after multiple parts of his car had to be fixed. After qualifying, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen shared their thoughts on the grid penalty.

After qualifying, Max Verstappen clearly voiced his opinion on the matter. "The rules have to change for that. It's the same if you get taken out and you have a big accident. You can lose parts of the engine, energy store, all these kinds of things. So, first of all, that needs to change, that these things can be taken into consideration that if you can take a free penalty or not, and it will not be counted."

He continued: "I think the team should not be allowed to have a say in these kinds of things because for sure they're going to vote against that. Personally, I do think it's very harsh on Carlos, but in this political environment that we are in, of course, every team thinks about themselves, and they're, of course, going to say no, he has to take the penalty," said the Dutchman in a critical manner.

The two Ferrari drivers agreed with the current world champion. "I agree on everything," Charles Leclerc said briefly.

Carlos Sainz was certainly not happy, but decided not to say much this time. "Yes, I want to add many things. I'm going to try and control myself a bit."