Carlos Sainz given Baku grid drop for causing Canadian GP crash
Baku, June 12, AZERTAC
Carlos Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Azerbaijan for "careless and potentially dangerous" driving on a dramatic first lap at the Canadian GP, according to Sky Sports.
Sainz, who had qualified 13th, lost control of his Toro Rosso after colliding with Romain Grosjean's Haas coming out of Turn Two, with the contact spinning his car round and sending it careering into Felipe Massa's Williams and into the barriers.
Sainz apologised to Grosjean and Massa on social media but the Montreal stewards took a dim view of his role in the accident, describing his actions as "potentially dangerous".
A stewards' statement read: "Notwithstanding this, and our conclusion that the collision was not caused by a deliberate act on the part of the driver of Car 55 [Sainz], we find that his assumption (as he stated) that there was no car alongside him and therefore he could move to that track position, was careless and potentially dangerous.
"This was evidenced by the further collision of Car 8 [Grosjean] with Car 19 [Massa], a direct result of this incident, which caused the retirement of Car 19."
In addition to a costly three-place Baku grid drop, Sainz also had two penalty points added to his race licence, taking him on to seven for the last 12 months - the most of the current grid. Drivers receive a one-race ban if they accrue 12 points across a rolling one-year period.
