Carlos Sainz has hit out at the penalty that saw him lose out on a certain fourth-place finish in Melbourne.

One of the more bizarre decisions on a day when it appeared the lunatics really had taken over the asylum, was to hit the Spaniard with a time penalty for an incident which effectively never happened.

At the second restart, the Ferrari driver clipped Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin, sending his countryman into a spin and dropping him to last.

Under investigation for causing the collision, the stewards deemed Sainz "wholly to blame" for the incident.

Alonso was significantly ahead of Sainz at the first corner, they said, "nevertheless" the Ferrari driver "drove into Alonso, causing him to spin and leave the track".

They accordingly imposed a 5-second penalty.

"For avoidance of doubt," they added, "we took into account the fact that this collision took place at the first lap of the restart, when, by convention, the stewards would typically take a more lenient view of incidents. However, in this particular case, notwithstanding the fact that it was the equivalent of a first lap incident, we considered that there was sufficient gap for Sainz to take steps to avoid the collision and failed to do so."

Adding to the controversy was the fact that the final result was based on the order at the time of the restart, meaning that Alonso was still in third, however the time penalty mean that Sainz, who finished fourth on the road, was demoted to 12th.

Ahead of the final restart, when told of the stewards decision, Sainz could be seen remonstrating with his engineer.

"No, it cannot be, Ricky, this will put me out of the points," he told his race engineer, Ricky Adami. "It's unacceptable, tell them it is unacceptable.

"Tell them they need to wait until the race is finished and discuss with me," he added. "Ask them please, please, please, please, please, to wait and discuss with me.

"The penalty is not deserved, it's too severe," he argued, but to no avail.

After the race his mood was understandably no better.

"I prefer not to talk right now honestly," he told Sky Sports. "I'm too disappointed, I'm going to say bad things.

"It's the most unfair penalty I've seen in my life," he added. "I prefer to go to the stewards now, have a conversation with them, and then come back and talk to you guys, because now I cannot do it."

As it happens, countryman Alonso agreed.

"Probably the penalty is too harsh," said the Aston Martin driver, who racked up his third successive podium finish, "I think because on Lap 1, it is very difficult always to judge what the grip level, and I think we don't go intentionally into another car, you know?

"Because we know that we risk also our car and our final position, so sometimes you ended up in places that you wish you were not there in that moment. And it's just part of racing, but I didn't see the replay properly, but for me, it feels too hard."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Melbourne here.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 03/04/2023 10:46

"Once the lights go out the race has started."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 03/04/2023 5:04

"As the race was red-flagged before a sector was completed and the race was re-started based on the positions at the end of the previous lap, could it be argued that the lap never took place in which case the accident never occurred and the penalty should never have been applied."

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

"The most unfair penalty in my life," declares Sainz.

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