Carlos Sainz’s third driving related reprimand of the season last weekend in Monaco now means that that two more of them will see him docked 10 grid positions.
Sainz had an eventful day on Saturday during the third and final practice session of the weekend when he slowed down almost to a halt out of La Rascasse and held up Lance Stroll.
His Ferrari team had given him the incorrect information over the radio as to who was behind him on track, so the Scuderia were fined 25,000 euros, with the Spaniard also warned for driving unnecessarily slowly.
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“It is unclear to the stewards why such misleading information was given to the driver, who was under the impression that there was no car immediately behind him,” explained the stewards.
“Due to the poor rear visibility at that part of the circuit, the driver was relying entirely on the team’s messages.
“Notwithstanding the above, it was noted that the driver of Car 55 almost came to a stop on the circuit.
“This is unacceptable and hence the penalty of a reprimand is imposed.
“We note that similar behaviour by any driver during qualification may involve much more severe penalties.”
Sainz would then later get involved in another close call with the other Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel as the German approached Massenet, and the stewards once more noted that the Italian side had fed the incorrect information to their driver.
“It is also noted that a similar situation occurred in relation to the incident involving Car 5 later in the session, where once again incorrect information was passed by the team to the driver, and again the driver of Car 55 was driving slower that can be considered reasonable in view of the location and circumstances,” the stewards added.
The reprimand for the Spaniard puts him up to three for the season, and five reprimands will get a driver a 10-place grid drop.
However, as per Article 18.2 of the sporting regulations, four of those reprimands must be driving related for a penalty to be applied, so the 27-year-old is two reprimands and one driving reprimand away from a more severe punishment from the stewards.
“Any driver who receives five (5) reprimands in the same Championship will, upon the imposition of the fifth, be given a ten (10) grid place penalty for the race at that Event,” reads the regulation.
“If the fifth reprimand is imposed following an Incident during a race the ten (10) grid place penalty will be applied at the driver’s next Event.
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“The ten (10) grid place penalty will only be imposed if at least four (4) of the reprimands were imposed for a driving infringement.”
Sainz ended the Monaco Grand Prix second behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez after an eventful afternoon in changing conditions.