Sainz: The level of officiating is far from what it should be.

      Oscar Piastri received a 10-second penalty for a collision with Kimi Antonelli at the São Paulo Grand Prix. Williams driver Carlos Sainz called such a penalty for the Australian unacceptable and urged a review of the stewards' approach to officiating.

      "I think the issue [with officiating] needs to be addressed in some way, because the fact that Oscar received a penalty in Brazil is unacceptable for the top category of motorsport," Carlos Sainz said on the eve of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. "Everyone who watches the races knows that Oscar was not to blame for what happened. Everyone who has raced themselves understands that in that incident he could not have done anything to avoid it. And for that he received a 10-second penalty. I don't understand that.

      "Likewise, I don't understand why I was penalized in Zandvoort, and I don't understand why Oliver Bearman was punished when we collided in Monza. This year there have been several incidents where the standard of officiating has been far from what it should be in our sport.

      "There may be two approaches. You can criticize the rules, but if at the same time we ask the stewards to act more strictly, then they are simply doing their job. Or the second approach — rules are just rules, and stewards should not judge every incident through a black-and-white prism.

      "I don't know what the solution should be, but after Brazil it is perfectly clear to me that the current approach is not working quite as it should."