Ferrari, on the penalty to Carlos Sainz there is a possible Mercedes shadow

After the manhole case, there continues to be no shortage of controversy.

Carlos Sainz and his Ferrari stopped in the middle of the Las Vegas circuit during Friday’s first free practice session. The reason è did not emerge until later: the SF-23 had ended up on a manhole cover sustaining extensive damage. No consequences for the driver, but the single-seater faced the replacement of several components. Hence a penalty for the Spaniard, which could perhaps even have been missed. In the way, però seems to have put Mercedes.

According to what has been reconstructed and disseminated by 'Sky Sports UK', in fact, the FIA è limited itself to executing the Sporting Regulations to the letter, but would have considered the possibility of granting an exemption to Sainz and Ferrari. It would, however, have needed the unanimous approval of the other teams, and according to the British broadcaster the only one missing would have been that of the Anglo-German team.

"Formula 1 did not make a fool of itself, not at all. We simply missed a free practice session. Tomorrow no one will talk about it anymore, the fact that there is so much talk about a manhole cover coming è off è ridiculous", Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, had commented hotly. Ferrari è was forced to replace, among other things, the battery in Sainz’s single-seater. And it is precisely this that will force the Spaniard to serve a 10-place grid penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.