Sainz accepts 'fair' penalty after locking up into Albon at Dutch Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz accepted a 10-second penalty as fair after locking up under braking at Turn 1 and collecting Williams team-mate Alex Albon during the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, ending any slim points hope for either driver.

With four laps remaining, Sainz moved to defend the inside line as Albon attempted to pass around the outside. A bump on the apex caught Sainz off guard mid-braking, triggering a front-tyre lock-up that sent the car straight ahead and into Albon’s sidepod. The contact tore up the floor on Albon’s FW47, forcing him to pit, while Sainz was handed the time penalty.

“It was a fair penalty,” Sainz said. “I had really worn hard tyres, struggling a lot with the car, with the pace of the race. And when I went to brake on the inside, there was a massive bump in the inside of Turn 1. The further you are on the inside, the bigger it gets. As soon as I touched the brakes, I locked up and I took Alex with me, which is the worst possible outcome for that race, because it’s not like we were fighting for anything big. Apologies to him, because it’s the last thing I wanted.”

Albon was measured in his response, noting the incident was clearly unintentional. “It’s not a Verstappen and Ricciardo — it’s less serious than that,” he said, referencing the collision between the two former Red Bull drivers at the 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “It was simply on him. I saw him lock up, so I immediately tried to follow him in a straight line. But we made contact, and my floor was pretty damaged, so we had to box.”

At the time of the clash, both Williams drivers were running 15th and 16th, ahead only of Cadillac’s Sergio Perez, which softened the immediate sporting blow. Even so, Albon was visibly frustrated by what he viewed as a missed chance for Williams to end a lengthy points drought. The team has not scored since the Monaco Grand Prix in early June — a gap of more than two months.

“The biggest frustration is the race itself, because I think we were in a good race,” Albon said. “We were in front of Fernando for most of that race. Maybe not with this pace, but I think we boxed too early. We came out behind a group of seven or eight cars. I need to understand why we boxed so early, because we genuinely had a chance to score points today.”

The reference to Fernando Alonso was pointed: the Aston Martin driver made a one-stop strategy work to claim an unexpected ninth place, underlining the opportunity Williams felt it had let slip before the intra-team collision even occurred.