Carlos Sainz Criticizes FIA Over Overtake Mode Fiasco in Singapore

Carlos Sainz has not held back in his criticism of the FIA after a significant oversight during Sprint qualifying in Singapore. The Williams driver was among those left without an Overtake Mode power boost when a 'human error' at Race Control led to its inconsistent activation. The situation arose when Sergio Perez's mishap at Turn 4 caused a red flag. Once the session resumed, only some drivers benefited from the additional energy boost, a discrepancy Sainz described as a lack of sporting fairness.

Sainz, already frustrated after qualifying 22nd, expressed his bewilderment at the FIA's decision to let the session results stand, despite acknowledging the unfairness. "For whatever reason," Sainz remarked, "the FIA didn’t decide to do sporting equity, and were happy to do half of the cars in quali with a higher power than the other half."

The Spaniard's irritation was compounded when he managed to reach Q2 in Grand Prix qualifying the next day, only to be impeded by Nico Hulkenberg. Despite the incident, Hulkenberg avoided a grid penalty due to what were deemed 'extraordinary mitigating circumstances'.

Sainz revealed that Nikolas Tombazis, the FIA's single-seater director, had apologized to the affected drivers, admitting the error and its impact on fairness. Still, Sainz questioned why the results were allowed to stand, especially when a similar issue at the Bahrain GP led to a suspension of proceedings.

"Very confused, still very amazed," Sainz commented, "by the fact that, still being aware of the sporting unfairness, they decided to throw it under the bed like nothing happened." He speculated that the lack of action might be due to Williams not being in contention for championship points.

Nikolas Tombazis further explained the error in an interview with Sky Deutschland, admitting it was "the worst thing" that could have happened. It turns out a message that should have been acted upon was missed, resulting in the chaotic activation and deactivation of Overtake Mode.

Tombazis assured that the FIA would learn from this mistake. "Normally it is a manual process to re-enable it," he explained, emphasizing the importance of safety. "Unfortunately, there was a pop-up window that was not acted on quickly enough. Under time pressure, this was forgotten."

He acknowledged the complexity of the job and the inevitability of human error but stressed the need for thorough analysis to prevent future occurrences. "Of course, to have a situation where a result is not fair or incorrect is for us not good," Tombazis confessed, emphasizing the FIA's commitment to safety and fairness.

This incident has clearly struck a nerve with Sainz, who remains perplexed by the FIA's handling of the situation. While the governing body promises to learn from its mistakes, the Williams driver is left wondering whether the same leniency would have been given if the stakes were higher.