Carlos Sainz Punishment Revealed After Kimi Antonelli Crash At US Grand Prix

Grid penalty

As he didn't finish the race, Sainz will be forced to take a five-place drop from where he qualifies at next weekend's Mexico City Grand Prix at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. He has also been handed two penalty points, taking him to four in a rolling 12-month period.

The stewards' report into the incident read: "Car 55 attempted an inside overtake on Car 12 at Turn 15 and a collision between the two cars occurred at the apex.

"The driver of Car 55 maintained that he had expected the driver of Car 12 to leave him space at the apex but Car 12 turned in early and Car 55 locked brakes when it became clear that a collision was unavoidable.

"He suggested that the Driver of Car 12 ought to have anticipated an overtake attempt by Car 55 and left space to avoid contact.

"However, at no point prior to the apex was the front axle of Car 55 alongside or ahead of the mirror of Car 12. Therefore, according to the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 55 had not earned a right to be left space at the apex.

"The Stewards therefore determine that the Driver of Car 55 was predominantly to blame for the collision and a penalty is applied accordingly.

"As the driver to be penalized did not finish the race a grid penalty equalling a 10 seconds time penalty is imposed."

It was a difficult day for Williams as Alex Albon failed to make starting on the hard tires work as he tried to fight back from 18th on the grid.

The Thai-Briton failed to reach the top 10, though Williams retains a 39-point lead over Racing Bulls in the race for fifth in the constructors' championship after the Faenza-based outfit also failed to score.