Mercedes stance amid claim they blocked Ferrari penalty reprieve at Las Vegas GP

Carlos Sainz and Ferrari have been punished for having to buy new engine parts after his car was damaged by a leaky plug in Las Vegas.

Mercedes has denied claims that Formula One stewards allowed Carlos Sainz an easy ride after the Spaniard was handed a heavy penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

His Ferrari was badly damaged during practice when his car picked up a loose drain plug from the ground and hit him. Several parts were damaged beyond repair, including the engine, which required new parts.

Sainz had to install a new auxiliary battery in his car, which put him over his annual allowance.
This resulted in an automatic grid penalty, but Ferrari requested an exception as the latter was eliminated through no fault of their own.

The stewards sympathized with Sainz and spent a lot of time finding loopholes in the rules.
But in the end they confirmed that the rules would only allow him to lose by 10 seats.

Sky Sports pundits Jenson Button and Karun Chandhok agreed that waiving the penalty would have been right in the circumstances.
Most others, including McLaren CEO Zach Brown, said his team would be happy to see the Ferrari flying in these conditions.

Asked if McLaren would support him, he said: “That’s right.
This is not a force majeure situation caused by the person’s own hands, but a very sad and unusual incident.
I was a bit surprised to see this.
It’s a bit unfair.”

Brown speculated that one of the teams would have intervened. Sky commentator David Croft said he knew the truth, leading to speculation that Mercedes, which is competing with Ferrari for second place in the constructors’ championship, would have pulled out.
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But Croft’s co-star Ted Kravitz said Mercedes told him honestly that wasn’t true.
“I contacted Mercedes and asked: would you object to Sainz being exempt from this sentence?” – he told the audience.
“They said, ‘No, absolutely not.
It’s just speculation.” Even if it is not the fault of the driver or the team, they will be penalized, and it is a precedent that the rules do not allow this.
“It’s used,” explained the manager.
According to Mercedes, they could not object to the departure.

“Their only position is that if the rules are not applied correctly, Sainz will make concessions or concessions.
So I think Mercedes is not applying the rules correctly, so maybe other teams will object.
Yes?’