(Motorsports news) After he ran over a water valve cover in FP1, Sainz’s energy supply was damaged, requiring him to use his third of the season. Given that the event was caused by a circuit problem and was beyond the control of the team and driver, Ferrari received a lot of support from the paddock after the modification automatically resulted in a 10-place penalty. After coming dangerously close to striking the same valve cover, Fernando Alonso stated, “We could change the penalty for Carlos.” “It is a little too severe.”

There has previously been discussion about voiding penalties for PU or gearbox changes in the event of unusual circumstances, but the teams prevented any attempt to include such an option into the regulations. In an attempt to get a waiver, Ferrari team manager Fred Vasseur persuaded the stewards that Sainz would not benefit from a new energy store in contrast to a fully upgraded power unit.

Giving an engine or a set of tires is not an easy task because it involves improving performance, he noted. However, the battery? The battery has no performance built in. “I think it was not too stupid to consider the case of force majeure, considering that we missed FP1, that we are a couple of millions of damage, that the mechanics worked like crazy to come back, and so on.” “We had a lot of discussions about whether we should have that kind of force majeure clause, having been on the other side,” Bayer said.

“And, in reality, it was the Formula One teams’ obsession with perfection combined with their extreme paranoia that led them to believe that whoever could declare a state of force majeure would hold great power, as many people would undoubtedly file for it repeatedly. That’s the reason they advised against opening Pandora’s box. Having said that, we would have backed Ferrari in this situation if we had been asked as a team. Really, it’s not their fault.” The F1 Commission meeting in Abu Dhabi next week may present a chance to bring up the topic once more.

Also read: Sainz’s potential Vegas F1 “comeback” has him in “a very bad mood”