F1: Carlos Sainz too angry to talk after Australian GP penalty

Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz was so angry he was left speechless after dropping down to 12th place from fourth thanks to a penalty at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took the victory at Melbourne Park for the first time in his career, but the chaotic race led to many more conversations up and down the paddock. The Red Bulls' sheer pace was a given, but the battles that were raging across the rest of the field made for some fiery battles and tragic crashes.

The Safety Car came out several times and the race was red flagged three times before the cars were finally shown the chequered flag. Apart from the original race start, two more standing starts were needed as well as a final rolling start behind the Safety Car.

After the race was red flagged for the second time due to Kevin Magnussen's kiss with concrete wall that sent parts of his rear tyre scattered across the track, only two laps remained but the stewards decided to restart the race anyway.

Sainz and Alonso, who were at P4 and P3 respectively, went wheel-to-wheel into Turn 1. Unfortunately, Sainz was unable to get out of the way to give room for Alonso into the corner, and their wheels touched, sending Alonso into a spin and into the back of the pack. Luckily, neither car appeared to sustain any damage from the collision.

However, Alonso's spinning Aston Martin forced those at the back into evasive manoeuvres, which ended with the two Alpine cars crashing into each other and into the wall. Other cars touched at the back of the pack and others ended up in the gravel, leading to another red flag.

The FIA took a long time to figure out the order, but they decided to revert to the original starting positions before the restart, minus the cars that had crashed out. As a result, Alonso was allowed to return to P3 despite having spinned out towards the back of the pack.

This came as a relief to both Spaniards, but Sainz completely blew his top when he was informed that he would be handed a five-second penalty. This would effectively put him outside the points.

As he was told about the decision before the final restart behind the safety car, Sainz pleaded over the radio for the FIA to wait until he has gotten a chance to explain himself after the race.

However, the penalty stood and he told the press after the race that he could not speak. "Right now, I cannot talk. I'm too angry, too disappointed, too... I just cannot say anything. I prefer to go to the stewards, get the penalty away, because I don't think I deserve it and it's the most unfair penalty I've seen in my life," he said during his mandatory post-race interview.

He then shared that he wants only to speak to the stewards, but he would face further sanctions if he skips his press duties. "I will go first to the stewards. I needed to come first to the TV pen; if I don't come [here] they put me in another penalty, so..."

Sainz then promised to speak out more once he had sorted out the situation, but it seems he won't have much to say as the penalty has been upheld until now. Incidentally, even Alonso himself felt that the penalty to Sainz was a bit harsh. Although no one can tell if he would feel the same way if he had lost his podium position because of the spin.

'Worst start to the season'

Meanwhile, Ferrari ended up taking home zero points from their trip all the way down under. Apart from the unfortunate penalty on Sainz that took him out of 4th place, his teammate Charles Leclerc was even more frustrated after not being able to finish a single lap around the Albert Park circuit.

Leclerc started the race in a dismal seventh place, but things got worse as soon as he got off the line. He ended up colliding with Lance Stroll's Aston Martin who qualified ahead of him, sending the Ferrari straight into the beach.

Their crash brought out the first of many Safety Car periods during the race, and was also the first of Ferrari's misfortunes on Sunday.

"I'm not pointing the finger at Lance because I think he had no choice once Fernando [Alonso] slowed down the car the second time, and for me it was just impossible to see whether Lance was staying behind Fernando or if he was just in between... I obviously didn't think he was there," said Leclerc.

While he refused to point the blame at Stroll, he did say that two retirements in three races so far in 2023 makes for the worst start to the season for him. He had been leading the championship by quite a margin at this point last year, before eventually bowing out to Verstappen.

Now, he is left frustrated after the unfortunate incidents and a very obvious lack of pace against Red Bull and possibly even against both Mercedes and Aston Martin.