Carlos Sainz has been told that he got ‘out of jail free’ with a key overtake he made during the early stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.
His driving style came under scrutiny for overtaking moves he made on Lewis Hamilton and teammate Charles Leclerc. After running inside the top five for most of the race, he slipped back to sixth when Leclerc overtook him with a handful of laps left.
Leclerc was left unhappy with Sainz after they brushed wheels when he went around the outside of Turn 1, causing Sainz to run off track and keep the position.
The Monogasque insisted that it caused damage to his front wing and could be seen confronting him after the race in Parc Ferme, while Damon Hill argued he should have backed out and allowed Sainz through.
Former F1 driver Tiff Needell believes Sainz escaped being penalised by the stewards due to a technicality in the rules for the race weekend when speaking on the Lovecars On The Grid podcast.
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Carlos Sainz lucky to escape being penalised
It is not the first time that Sainz has clashed with Leclerc this season. He was forced to apologise in a Ferrari debrief after an overly aggressive defensive move on Leclerc during the Sprint for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Needell highlighted a key clause in an event-specific rule that enabled Sainz – who has 22 F1 podiums to his name – to overtake Leclerc and take to the escape road at Turn 1, without receiving any investigation or penalty from the stewards.
“I watched the F2 and F3 races and I noticed that if you go off at Turn 1 and peel off into the escape road, it was quicker than doing the tighter left-hand corner,” said Needell.
“Carlos did that, as soon as he moved defensively on Leclerc to out-brake him, they touched and he shot off into that escape road and came out ahead. Because he obeyed ‘FIA Rules’ he wasn’t gaining any advantage by going off the track. It was a get-out-of-jail-free episode! So he used the re-entry around the cone to avoid any overtaking penalty.”
What do the rules say?
Usually, when drivers run off track to complete an overtaking manoeuvre they are instructed by the Race Director to give the position back, otherwise they will refer it to the stewards and might incur a penalty.
Prior to the Spanish Grand Prix, Race Director Niels Wittich issued his event notes which contained a section referring to track limits throughout the race weekend.
Under Article 15.2 he stated: “Any driver going with 4 wheels to the left of the LHS track limit white line at Turn 1 and Turn 2, may only rejoin the track at Turn 3 if the car passes to the LHS of the two bollards at the entry of Turn 3 without gaining any lasting advantage.”
As Sainz had completed the overtake on Leclerc before running off track, he only needed to take to the escape road to ensure that he did not cut the corner and breach track limits.
The post ‘I noticed’: Former F1 driver thinks 22-podium star got ‘out of jail free’ with key overtake at the Spanish GP appeared first on F1 Oversteer.