Carlos Sainz expressed severe frustration with the FIA after finding himself on the receiving end of recent decisions, openly stating that the governing body lacks fundamental 'sporting equity'. The Spanish driver went as far as suggesting that bias played a role in these rulings, pointing directly toward the unusual events witnessed at the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia.
As the grid prepared for the formation lap, multiple cars encountered severe issues that left them stranded on the side of the circuit, prompting a red flag and sending the field back into the pit lane. This left the FIA struggling to decide whether to reinstate the original grid order or penalize those not positioned behind the Safety Car. Although sporting regulations dictated that the mixed-up grid should have taken precedence, officials ultimately stuck to the original order, a situation compounded by a software glitch originating directly from the FIA.
Troubles escalated further during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, featuring a second software blunder described as an unfortunate human error. During SQ1, the Overtake Mode failed to activate properly when the session resumed following a red flag period, depriving drivers of their initial extra boost. The system was turned on briefly, only to be deactivated 27 seconds later in an attempt to preserve sporting fairness, creating an uneven playing field.
This narrow window of opportunity disproportionately benefited certain drivers, gifting those with access an extra half-second advantage on their lap times. The mishap left Sainz stranded down in 22nd place on the grid, as the Williams driver failed to receive the crucial performance boost due to the technical discrepancy. Alongside Lewis Hamilton and George Russell dealing with their own respective drama, the paddock atmosphere turned tense.
"Unfortunately, we had a really poor lap there," Sainz remarked after the session concluded. "We only got one lap, and we had some issues with the brakes in FP1; we had to change them, and we were still having some brake issues. Had a few lockups, struggling a lot with that and with the tyres." Operating also in his capacity as a Director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, he added critically, "But, on top of that, half of the cars did the lap with half a second quicker engine than the others. There was another software issue with the cars. This time around, we were on the bad end of it."
Visibly frustrated by the inconsistent approach, the four-time Grand Prix winner drew parallels to the controversial handling in Malaysia. "And for whatever reason, the FIA, like in Malaysia, didn't decide to do sporting equity, and were happy to do half of the cars in qualifying with a higher power than the other half of the cars," Sainz concluded, questioning why the sport continually changes its application of rules depending on who is adversely affected during qualifying sessions.
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