Furious Carlos Sainz in utter disbelief over 10-place grid penalty

Carlos Sainz has expressed his frustration after being handed a 10-place grid penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver was handed the penalty after being forced to withdraw from his first practice session on Friday.

The session saw Sainz's car collide with a loose drain cover valve on the street track in Las Vegas which caused serious damage. As a result, several components needed to be replaced on Sainz's SF-23, with the driver's team managing to complete the repairs in time to get the car back out on the track for the FP2.

However, due to Sainz exceeding the annual limit for the energy store component that needed replacing, the stewards were left with no choice but to hand the Spaniard a grid drop. This was despite Ferrari appealing for a lesser punishment due to the cause of the damage to the components being no fault of Sainz or their own.

Sainz has now given his reaction to the 10-place grid drop that has been handed his way for Saturday's race. The Ferrari driver, who is one of only three drivers to win a race this season, expressed his "disbelief" over the sanction from the stewards - but also took time to praise the work of his team to get the car repaired in time.

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"Unfortunately, as the session finished, the team communicated to me that I was taking a 10-place grid penalty for something that I have no fault and the team has no fault," Sainz told Sky Sports.

"Obviously, this has changed completely my mindset and obviously my opinion on the weekend and how the weekend is going to go from now on.

"You can obviously imagine how disappointed I am, in disbelief with the situation and you will not see me very happy this weekend."

Sainz added: "It was, in my opinion, a heroic effort by the team and the mechanics and I could take [part] in the session [FP2]. It felt good. You can clearly see this weekend we are relatively competitive.

"What happened today for me is a very clear example of how the sport can be improved in so many ways. The FIA, teams, rules - this could clearly be applied as force majeure for me not to take a penalty, but some way there's always people, always ways, to make this situation worse for an individual. And I think in this case it's my turn to pay the price."

Formula 1 has arrived in Las Vegas for the first time in more than 40 years. Max Verstappen has already secured the World Driver's Championship, having won 17 of the 20 races so far this season.