Carlos Sainz handed five-place grid penalty after Kimi Antonelli collision in United States Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz has been hit with a five-place grid penalty for the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix after being deemed at fault in a collision with Kimi Antonelli during Sunday’s race in Austin.

Sainz had been battling with the Mercedes of Antonelli in the opening stages of the event, before attempting an overtake into Turn 15 on Lap 7. Contact occurred between the two cars, with Antonelli spinning off track before rejoining further down the order.

Moments later Sainz pulled off track, making the Williams driver the only retirement of the race, while Antonelli finished in 13th place. It was confirmed that the incident would be investigated after the United States Grand Prix.

The stewards heard from both drivers along with their respective team representatives and, after determining that Sainz was to blame, opted to hand the Spaniard a drop of five grid positions at the next race he participates in, as well as putting two penalty points on his licence.

A document released after the hearing reads: “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 predominatly 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.”

This means that Sainz will serve his penalty at the Mexico City Grand Prix, which takes place in just a few days’ time on the weekend of October 24-26.

Reflecting on the incident after the Grand Prix, Sainz said that the clash “looks a lot worse from the outside than what it felt from the inside” and labelled the outcome to his race “a shame”.

Antonelli, meanwhile, stated: “I don’t think he was going to make the corner anyway, and I tried to avoid hitting the apex just to give him a bit more space, but I ended up getting taken out. It’s a shame, but we move forward.”