Carlos Sainz on his grid penalty: ‘I’m disappointed and in disbelief’ (2024)

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen overcame a five-second penalty, a collision with George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win a thrilling Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Verstappen complained earlier this week that the Vegas Grand Prix was “99% show” and few would have expected a race of this quality after the first practice session of the week was canceled on Thursday because of problems with the track.

But Sin City delivered one of the finest races of the season, with Verstappen fighting his way through the pack to win the 53rd Grand Prix of his career, drawing him level with Sebastian Vettel.

He is also the first driver ever to win in the same country three times in a single Formula 1 season after his US victories in Miami, Austin and now Las Vegas.

He was forced to work hard for his victory, however, and was handed a five-second penalty for forcing Leclerc off the track at the first corner.

The Dutchman then suffered a damaged front wing in a collision with Russell — which the Mercedes driver accepted full responsibility for — but recovered and passed Leclerc for the lead in the 37th lap. “I hope the fans enjoyed it and I am already excited to come back here and hopefully do something similar,” he said later.

Leclerc then dropped back to third behind Sergio Pérez, only to catch the Mexican in the dying seconds of the race, on the final straight. Esteban Ocon’s Alpine took fourth place. Lance Stroll was fifth for Aston Martin, while Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton in sixth and seventh.

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Poor Carlos Sainz has said he is in “disbelief” that he has been handed a 10-place grid penalty after his car was damaged in FP1 on Thursday.

Sainz hit a loose manhole cover which damaged his car and resulted in him taking a third energy store of the season, which is outside the permitted pool.

Ferrari argued that should have been allowed because the damage was out of his hands — but the FIA were unmoved.

“As the session finished, the team communicated to me that I was taking a 10-place grid penalty for something that I have no fault, and the team have no fault,” Sainz complained earlier.

“That changed completely my mindset and my opinion on the weekend and how it's going to go from now on. I'm disappointed and in disbelief with the situation. You will not see me very happy this weekend.”

The street circuit may have held up during FP3 — but there are still plenty of unanswered questions ahead of qualifying today.

Albon’s crash in FP3 meant that the session was brought to a premature conclusion, which meant a number of drivers did not complete their runs.

That number includes Charles Leclerc, who has looked to be the pace-setter over one lap so far. He’s Ferrari’s best chance of success this weekend, after Carlos Sainz was slapped with an incredibly unlucky 10-place grid penalty after his car was damaged on Thursday.

There were mercifully no further problems with the track in Las Vegas, after a loose drain damaged Carlos Sainz’s car in the first practice session, causing it to be stopped after just nine minutes of running.

But FP3 did witness the first time any driver had crashed on the new high-speed Vegas street track.

Poor Alex Albon ended an otherwise impressive session by hitting the wall in his Williams at Turn Four, breaking his right-rear corner and leaving a tyre bouncing around the track.

Max Verstappen was only fourth fastest in FP3 today but is aiming to make a piece of F1 history in Las Vegas this weekend.

A record-extending 18th win of the season would be Verstappen’s 53rd career victory, equalling the tally of four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel.

Only Lewis Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91) have won more.

It’s fast approaching 11pm in Las Vegas which means we’re around an hour out from today’s qualifying session, which commences at midnight local time.

Why is all of the action happening so late? It’s a fine question and one Luke Smith answers below.

After watching a water valve cover leap out of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and into Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari, I called up a couple of racetrack engineers to get their thoughts on what may have happened here. Neither had information beyond what’s been reported publicly — the FIA has said the concrete frame around the valve cap failed — and shown in photos. But both have plenty of experience with this issue and came down on different sides of where to lay the blame.

The first was Bob Barnard, a civil engineer who’s worked on racetracks since the mid-80s. He theorized that the failure came down to a series of three issues. The first came when the roads forming the circuit were repaved a few weeks ago. Typically, after the asphalt is laid down, you have to go back and “dig out” things like manholes and water valves so you can adjust the cast iron sleeves in which their caps sit to be flush with the new street level. Then, you patch around the damage with concrete.

The second comes with the fact that these roads were repaved a couple of weeks ago and have been open to traffic in the meantime. That’s plenty of time for trucks and other heavy vehicles to drive over those bits of concrete, raising the risk of cracking it. That becomes a problem when condition number three comes into play: downforce. When F1 use aerodynamics to push themselves downward, they’re effectively pulling the track upward. Do that over anything not properly stuck down — like a valve cap sitting in cracked concrete — and it’s likely to pop out.

The second engineer was Martyn Thake, who’s also been working on racetracks since the mid-80s, including street tracks in St Petersburg, Florida, Miami and Baltimore. Where Barnard blamed the folks responsible for building the track — “they failed to do this properly” — Thake said that based on what he’s seen, nobody but bad luck is to blame. “I wouldn’t have done it differently,” he said. “I can’t see they did anything wrong. It’s by the book.”

“Sometimes s–t just happens.”

Though many fans attending this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix purchased three-day ticket packages, the most expensive race in Formula 1 history forced others to choose a cheaper option.

Some fans bought Thursday-only tickets to see the opening day of on-track activity, which was supposed to feature two one-hour practice sessions. Instead, fans only saw eight minutes of cars at speed before the stewards canceled the first practice due to water valve cover issues on the track.

The second practice was held in full at 2:30 a.m. local time, but fans were not permitted to attend after the LVGP closed its fan areas due to the late hour. Refunds were not offered, no apology was given. On Friday night, fans were given the option to use a $200 voucher for the LVGP online merchandise store – but only those who bought single-day tickets.

The Athletic spoke with three Thursday-only fans who agreed to share their reactions and experiences —click the link below to see what they told us.

We didn't get to see Ferrari run the track on the softs, which they'd planned to do in the closing minutes. But, based on what they did in FP2 yesterday —with Leclerc P1 and Sainz P2, half a second behind — we expect a strong showing from the Prancing Horse.

That'll be especially important for Leclerc: Given Sainz's 10-place grid penalty for taking new parts after the track attacked his car in FP1, the Monegasque driver is the team's best shot at serious points.

The session wasn't perfectly smooth, as the Albon-triggered red flag ended things a few minutes early. But 56 minutes is a whole lot better than the eight we got from FP1.

Qualifying's up next at 3 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. GMT.

Dogs do just fine on three legs. F1 cars not so much.

That's a red flag as Albon touches the wall and loses his rear left wheel.

Session will not be resumed.