Carlos Sainz names Sky’s F1 analysts as he proposes drastic stewarding idea

Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz desires to see a dramatic overhaul of F1’s stewarding, believing the present tips have solely made judging incidents extra complicated.

Numerous incidents and stewarding choices have been put beneath the highlight in 2025.

Lately, Oscar Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty for inflicting a collision with Kimi Antonelli at Flip 1 in Brazil. 

As Piastri was deemed to be ‘uncontrolled’ and the incident ruined Charles Leclerc’s race, he was penalised. 

The overall consensus was that it was a racing incident, as Antonelli failed to depart enough room.

In Las Vegas, Lawson escaped a penalty for his aggressive Lap 1 lunge, resulting in options of inconsistency. 

Different examples embody the stewards not penalising Leclerc or Max Verstappen on the opening lap of the Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, and Sainz’s weird penalty at Zandvoort for an incident with Lawson.

Talking forward of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, Sainz named three ex-F1 drivers – who are actually pundits for Sky and F1TV – as examples of incidents being judged appropriately. 

Karun Chandhok and Anthony Davidson have been mainstays of Sky’s UK protection for years, typically utilizing the ‘Skypad’ to analyse incidents.

Sainz praised each of them, in addition to F1’s Jolyon Palmer, for his or her capacity to dissect incidents, and the Williams driver believes the game would profit from that degree of research.

“I believe just lately after the races I’ve seen some evaluation completed various the incidents,” Sainz defined.

“I believe there have been a few of them… Karun Chandhok, in a few of them Jolyon Palmer, in a few of them Anthony Davidson. Each time I see this evaluation that they do, and the decision that they offer, from racing drivers which have been just lately racing, I believe they do an excellent evaluation and so they put the blame appropriately more often than not on who truly has the blame or if it’s only a racing incident.

“My future thought isn’t any tips and other people which are capable of choose this form of incidents in addition to these three folks do after races. That is simply my opinion however I’m fairly impressed on the job that among the broadcasters do after the race with this in-depth evaluation of the incidents and the way they apply blame or no blame into sure situations.

“I believe that’s a degree of research that I believe may be very excessive degree and possibly doesn’t imply we’ll agree 100 per cent on the circumstances of what these three ex-drivers give however I believe they’re lots of the time they’re very near being 90 per cent right. If I must go and see F1 sooner or later, and the stewarding degree, this is kind of a degree I might recognize.”

Sainz questions the rules

New racing tips have been carried out following a sequence of incidents involving Verstappen final yr. 

Verstappen’s aggressive driving in opposition to Lando Norris led to an overhaul of the principles. 

Sainz has careworn the necessity to discover “options” forward of 2026.

“I believe this yr there was fairly a little bit of confusion relating to fairly a couple of of them,” Sainz defined.

“I believe we have to sit collectively and undergo them and analyse them calmly, out of the warmth of the second like we are actually on a Thursday earlier than a race and attempt to give you a greater answer for the longer term.

“My private opinion is that there’s potential to do higher and the rules themselves have created extra issues than options to lots of points which have occurred this yr within the methods we choose incidents and there’s been barely any room for racing incidents.

“It’s at all times been white or black as a result of we’ve been supported by the rules and so they’ve not allowed for racing incidents to be judged as racing incidents. There was at all times a tyre in entrance or behind a mirror, or a tyre within the entrance or behind a entrance or rear tyre – regardless of the tips say however I don’t know them by coronary heart.

“For me, it’s been in that sense not a profitable implementation of these tips. That’s what we have to talk about and see if there’s every other answer.”