Carlos Sainz given five-place grid penalty for Mexico City Grand Prix
20th October 2025Williams driver Carlos Sainz is set to serve a five-place grid penalty at the Mexico City Grand Prix after the Spaniard crashed into Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli in Austin.
Feature image credit: Mercedes F1
Sainz suffered a mixed weekend in Austin for the United States Grand Prix, having taken a top-three finish in the Sprint Race on Saturday and then crashing into Antonelli in the Grand Prix.
Now the Spaniard is set to take a five-place grid penalty for the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix, at the Autodromo Jose Hermanos Rodrigues, following contact with Antonelli on lap seven.
In the slow, technical, complex section of track, between turns 12 to 15, Sainz and Antonelli jostled for position, and the Spaniard dived down the inside at turn 15 before he locked up. Antonelli cut across with the racing line and was sent into a spin after he made contact with the Williams.
Antonelli was able to continue, albeit at the back of the field, but Sainz was forced to retire shortly after with damage to his front-right suspension, pulling off in front of the pit entry.
The Williams driver’s retirement meant that he would not serve a 10-second time penalty the stewards would’ve imposed, prompting a five-place grid penalty.
In the stewards’ report, they deemed Sainz to be predominantly to blame for the incident. They said:
“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.”
Sainz was the only retirement of the race in the US, won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and Antonelli was able to work his way back up to 13th, between Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (12th) and Williams’ Alexander Albon (14th).
In addition to the imposed grid penalty, the stewards also gave Sainz two penalty points on his superlicence, bringing his total up to four in 12 months. All of his penalty points have been given following contact with Antonelli, in Bahrain and Austin, Texas.
The Mexico City Grand Prix will get underway later on this week as the sport returns to the usual format with Free Practice 1 getting underway on Friday, October 24, with the Grand Prix going lights out on October 26.
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
