F1 steward admits "it felt wrong" to penalise Carlos Sainz in Las Vegas

Sainz was forced into an engine change after sustaining damage in opening practice in Vegas last month.

The Spaniard ran over a loose manhole, which completely damaged the underside of his car.

Ferrari were forced to change his chassis and give him new engine components - incurring a 10-place grid penalty as a result.

As the damage wasn’t through his own error - or Ferrari’s poor reliability - the team hoped they’d avoid picking up the standard grid penalty.

However, the FIA were left with no choice but to award Sainz a grid drop - a decision that cost Sainz a P2 start for the race, having a knock-on effect in the battle for second in the constructors’ championship.

As quoted by Reuters, Warwick revealed that the stewards team at the time pushed for no penalty to be handed out.

"It's a difficult job for a steward, the same as a referee, and we've got to be impartial, we've got to be strict and we've got to be hard sometimes even when it hurts us," he said.

"The penalty we had to give Sainz in Vegas, it felt wrong, it was wrong, we worked very hard for it not to happen but they're the rules."