Carlos Sainz has escaped with a reprimand following an incident in the pit lane in Saturday's final practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Sainz was investigated for an unsafe release that impeded Fernando Alonso, who had been travelling down the 'fast lane' in his Alpine. After the stewards met with Sainz, and reviewed available footage, the driver - rather than the team - admitted "fault", but the panel went no further than issuing a reprimand. Sainz therefore enters qualifying without the threat of a penalty hanging over his shoulders.
The stewards explain their decision
Sainz was found to have breached Article 34.14 (a) of the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, which relates to pit lane activity and how cars are released from their garages. "The driver accepts that he was at fault in this incident due to a misunderstanding of the communication signals from the mechanic, compounded by his lack of vision to the side of the car," read the stewards' explantion. "The stewards determine this to be a breach of the above regulation and impose a reprimand." The stewards clarified that the reprimand will not be classified as a 'driving infringement'. As per current F1 rules, any driver who receives five reprimands in the same season will, upon the imposition of the fifth, be given a 10-place grid penalty. However, the grid drop would only be applied if at least four of the reprimands are regarded as driving infringements.
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