Damon Hill drops 2-word reaction to Carlos Sainz being successful in his right to review for F1 Dutch GP penalty

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill has dropped a 2-word reaction expressing his confusion over Carlos Sainz's Dutch Grand Prix penalty being overturned upon review. The Spaniard was originally handed a 10-second penalty in the race and handed 2 penalty points for his incident with Liam Lawson at Zandvoort.

Carlos Sainz was left in disbelief as the stewards deemed him to be at fault for his incident with Liam Lawson at the Dutch GP earlier in September. The 31-year-old was critical of both the stewards' decision and his rival after the race, adamant that he was not at fault.

The Williams F1 team exercised their right to review this decision with the FIA, and now the decision has been overturned upon review. The Grove-based team shared this news along with a statement via Instagram on Saturday.

"We are grateful to the stewards for reviewing Carlos' Zandvoort penalty and are pleased they have now decided he was not at fault, and that this was a racing incident," the statement read. "While it is frustrating that our race was compromised by the original decision, mistakes are part of motor racing and we will continue to work constructively with the FIA to improve stewarding processes and review the racing rules for the future."

1996 F1 world champion and former Williams driver Damon Hill shared his reaction to this news via his Instagram story on Saturday.

"For clarification .... ?"

Screen grab from Damon Hill's Instagram story [via Instagram/@96f1champ]

The stewards explained that they have decided to rescind their decision to characterise the collision as a racing incident based on the new evidence and camera angles shared by Williams. The British team pointed out that the collision was caused by Liam Lawson rather than their driver, but still identified it as a racing incident.

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Williams and Carlos Sainz claim Liam Lawson "lost control" of his car during the incident at the Dutch GP

Liam Lawson and Carlos Sainz at the Monaco Grand Prix - Source: Getty

The Williams F1 team and Carlos Sainz both claimed that the incident between their driver and Liam Lawson occurred primarily due to a "momentary loss of control" by the latter. The team was able to prove this with footage from a 360-degree camera on Sainz's car, as was revealed in the stewards' decision document published on Saturday [Sept 13].

While they admitted that Sainz did not have the right to the corner into turn 1 as he was not far enough alongside Lawson's car, they argued that the Spaniard still left enough space for Lawson on the inside. Additionally, they claimed that the collision only occurred due to Lawson's loss of control. Williams also clarified that they do not wish for Lawson to receive a penalty.

Carlos Sainz also admitted that he was not entitled to space on the outside, and that he would have been ready to give the place back if he had left the track and rejoined ahead of Lawson. But he also indicated that he couldn’t anticipate Lawson losing control mid-corner and colliding with him.

RB argued that the collision was caused because Sainz was running too close to Lawson, and the Kiwi driver also denied having lost control of his car. However, the stewards still ruled in favofavour ofliams and overturned the penalty based on the new evidence.

Edited by pranavsethii