Carlos Sainz hit with grid penalty for F1 Belgian Grand Prix

The 10-place grid drop is the latest setback in a troubled weekend for the Williams driver – but the effect isn't as bad as you would expect

Having outqualified Williams team-mate Alex Albon at Spa-Francorchamps, Carlos Sainz has been shuffled backwards by a 10-place grid penalty for taking on additional Formula 1 power unit components.

Limits on how many individual power units and various peripheral elements drivers can use through a season form a key pillar of Formula 1's cost-control structure. Until the 2000s, there were no such limits and it was common practice among wealthier teams to install a new engine overnight before the race.

Read Also:

Formula 1This is the starting grid for the 2026 F1 Belgian GP

That changed in 2004, when the FIA imposed a rule mandating each engine had to last a whole grand prix weekend. This philosophy has evolved into the present structure in which drivers are limited to four internal combustion engines, exhaust systems and turbochargers, and three batteries, control electronics and electric motors through the whole season.

Fitting a new control electronics module has therefore triggered the penalty, since it is his fourth of the season.

Sainz had been battling car problems all weekend before qualifying, as well as having to resolve a minor spat with Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli after unintentionally blocking him during FP1. With some help from team-mate Albon, who gave him an aerodynamic 'tow' in the first qualifying session, Sainz managed to avoid elimination in that first knockout phase but Albon missed the cut by 0.007s.

In Q2 he beat Oliver Bearman's Haas to 15th on the road by an even smaller margin – 0.002s.

"It's been such a tough weekend for me," said Sainz after qualifying.

"I've been P17, P18 all weekend battling one issue with a car that we couldn't find, we couldn't solve. So I was three to five tenths off Alex in every single lap and almost fighting with the Cadillacs in all sessions every time I go out on track.

"And it's been incredibly frustrating because we couldn't see what was happening. Finally we changed a lot of things going into qualifying and the car woke up and I did pretty much what I've been doing all year.

"That is, when you do a good lap you get out of Q1 and then you get into Q2 – and with a good lap maybe you beat Bearman like two thousandths of a second. And with that, unfortunately that's your good day.

"So yeah, happy that we found the issue. Not so happy that we cannot explain the issue very well. So we need to keep digging."

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Marc Fleury

Sainz has now become the fifth driver to be penalised for taking on out-of-quota power unit components this weekend, so the blow has been cushioned somewhat because of the mathematics relating to these penalties. He would originally have started 14th because Isack Hadjar, who qualified 10th, was also due a penalty.

But Sainz will now start ahead of Hadjar anyway, because the Red Bull driver took on multiple out-of-quota components. The rules dictate that when a driver incurs a penalty exceeding 15 places, they must start at the back of the grid.

Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso are in a similar position, so Sainz will start ahead of them as well. He will therefore be able to start from 19th on the grid, a net loss of five places rather than 10 – probably the best news he's had all weekend.