Carlos Sainz has criticised the penalty handed out to George Russell after their collision at the United States Grand Prix last weekend.
The Spaniard qualified on pole in Texas and would have been hoping to secure the second race victory of the season and his career. But instead he saw just a few seconds of action after the lights went out before Russell slammed into him at the first corner.
His Ferrari sprang a water leak, and Sainz was forced to retire the car. Meanwhile, Russell was given a five-second time penalty for causing the crash but carried on to finish fifth in the race, while also setting the fastest lap.
Sainz has endured some rotten luck this season, as this was far from the first time in 2022 that he had been knocked off track by other racers. So it came as little surprise to see him upset when he later spoke about the incident.
"It was, for sure, one of the toughest moments of the season and was very disappointing, because after doing a perfect weekend up until then, for your race to be ruined by something out of your control is really tough," said the Ferrari driver.
"It has also been a few times this year which makes it frustrating not to do races because it is what we go to all these places to do. But it is how it goes sometimes in motorsport or in life. You go through rough patches and other easier one. And it feels like this year, everything that could happen to me is happening. I hope that I get them all out of the way this year to have a smooth [season] next year."
Sainz also added that he felt Russell had been let off lightly for causing the crash, implying that the Brit should have been given a more serious penalty. "I think that the FIA also was maybe a bit easy on him for the consequences that happened," he said.
It is certainly not the first time the sport's governing body has been criticised in recent weeks. Unhappiness after the Japanese Grand Prix sparked a pledge from the FIA to make a swathe of rule changes, while Haas chief Guenther Steiner told Mirror Sport this week he feels there has not been a "level playing field" in F1 this year.
Russell was clearly apologetic for causing the incident. After the race, he was spotted visiting the Ferrari hospitality area to apologise to Sainz in person. He also took full responsibility when asked about it by reporters.
The Mercedes star said: "When I attacked at Turn 1, I was focused on the three cars around me and I was expecting Carlos to try and fight it around the outside of Max. So I braked quite deep into the corner and when I saw he tried cutting back underneath Max, it was already too late for me there and yeah, I can't avoid the incident. Hands up from from my side, I should have been aware of that possibility."
