Spanish driver for Williams F1 Carlos Sainz received a 10-second penalty for a racing incident on track at the Dutch GP, sparking some furious words from the “Smooth operator.”
“He’s just so stupid. Oh my God. This guy, it’s always the same guy,” Sainz said over his team’s radio, according to Sports Bible.
The Incident with Liam Lawson
The incident that prompted the outburst from Sainz came in turn 1 at Circuit Zandvoort when Sainz’s car, on the outside of the corner, contacted Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson’s car on lap 27.
Both cars sustained significant enough damage that the virtual safety car was deployed to give time and space to clear the debris from the cars.
Race stewards argued Sainz did not get sufficiently alongside Lawson before entering the corner, or by the apex of the corner, and that Lawson had the right of way. They gave Sainz a 10-second penalty to be served during his next pit stop.
Sainz, known for his usually calm demeanor, was furious at the news.
“Who? Who gets a penalty? Me? You are joking,” he said over the Williams team radio. “You are joking. It is the most ridiculous decision of my life.”
The FIA also gave Sainz a two-point penalty for the incident.
Sainz called the penalties “a complete joke” in post-race interviews with the press.
“Hopefully it will come with more experience to him, because he knows he’s putting too many points on the line just for an unnecessary maneuver like he did. But on top of that, to then get that 10-second penalty for it, I think it’s a complete joke,” he said, according to Planet F1.
But Sainz isn’t the only one angry about the penalty. F1 fans all over social media are pretty livid about the incident and the FIA’s decision.
Fans React to the Penalties
One fan on X wrote: “Why the hell did Carlos Sainz get a time penalty for Liam Lawson being an absolute donut?!”
That’s something Sainz doesn’t understand either, arguing there have been many races where two cars raced side by side through that same turn without colliding.
“It’s a corner that allows to go two cars to race each other without really having to have any unnecessary contact,” Sainz said. “But with Liam, it always seems to be very difficult to make that happen.”
Another fan posted a video of the incident, arguing, “The fact that Sainz got a 10 for this clearly tells you that the rules need a major overhaul.”
The fact that Sainz got a 10 for this clearly tells you that the rules need a major overhaulpic.twitter.com/RjR7kApJuB
— Holiness (@F1BigData) August 31, 2025
Other fans on X tried to characterize how Sainz might want to react to the penalties.
Carlos Sainz pulling up to the stewards office like pic.twitter.com/XIX9nl6VAE
— Francisca | Going to Monza 🇮🇹 (@H7MILT0N) August 31, 2025
Sainz heading to the stewards after the race #DutchGP pic.twitter.com/stJ3k24oPf
— Mark Collins (@mark_collins09) August 31, 2025
carlos sainz visiting the stewards after the race for his little “talk” pic.twitter.com/d0lrglmzzF
— hallie //// (@WDCN0R4) August 31, 2025
