Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was left fuming after a late penalty saw him tumbling from fourth all the way into last at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard was given a five-second penalty for colliding with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso after the second race restart on the second-last lap.
But with just one lap left, which was run behind the safety car with no overtaking allowed, it meant Sainz had no way to escape falling all the way into 12th.
Watch Every Practice, Qualifying & Race of the 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship™ Live. New to Kayo? New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >
Australian Grand Prix – Race Highlights | 07:03
He was told of the decision during the third red flag stoppage before the almost ceremonial final lap.
“No. It cannot be, Ricky (race engineer Riccardo Adami). Do I deserve to be out of the points? No. No!” Sainz ranted on team radio.
“It’s unacceptable. Tell them. It is unacceptable! They need to wait until the race is finished and discuss with me. No!
“Please, ask them, please, please, please to wait, to wait and discuss with me. Clearly the penalty is not deserved, it’s too severe.”
Post-race Sainz was spotted marching angrily through the media room at Albert Park on his way to see the stewards to discuss the penalty.
He told Sky F1: “I’d prefer not to talk right now honestly, I’m too disappointed. I’m going to say bad things. It’s the most unfair penalty I’ve seen in my life.
“I’d 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.”
The decision to call the third red flag, after the collisions at the second restart, caused plenty of dramas as well with drivers complaining about the call on the team radio.
“Stupid rule!” Fernando Alonso complained.
“How the hell you can put a red flag before?
“Because we don’t complete a lap, we go back to the same position like in Silverstone.”
Leclerc RETIRED in first lap CHAOS | 01:07
He was at risk of dropping out of the points entirely until he was restored into third place, where he had been before the Sainz incident.
“We had a rollercoaster of emotions with many things going on. It was difficult to understand what was going on at the end but it was a good race for us,” Alonso said later.
“The first red flag helped up because George [Russell] and Carlos [Sainz] came in and we got places for free. The second one probably didn’t help us.
“P3 and P4 is an amazing Sunday for the team. We have three third places, let’s get higher on the list.”
