{"id":419548,"date":"2025-09-12T22:30:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419548\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T22:30:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T22:30:18","slug":"when-f1-drivers-showed-sportsmanship-plus-sainz-penalty-appeal-outcome-delayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/419548\/","title":{"rendered":"When F1 drivers showed sportsmanship. Plus: Sainz penalty appeal outcome delayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s twice-weekly F1<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive Prime Tire directly in your inbox on Tuesday and Friday.<\/p>\n

Welcome back to Prime Tire, where today I still can\u2019t fathom the calm that\u2019s followed the Formula One storm of Zandvoort-Monza, with the lull ahead of Baku next week.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happens when the main first portion of 2025 is so jam packed.<\/p>\n

The season has now got more quiet troughs to join the interspersed race weekend peaks, before the final triple header of Las Vegas-Qatar-Abu Dhabi. That run will close out the championship that will either go to Oscar Piastri or Lando Norris, as good as Max Verstappen was for Red Bull in winning in Italy last weekend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Alex, and Luke Smith will be along later.<\/p>\n

How McLaren Mateship Compares<\/strong>Piastri vs Norris evokes forgotten F1 traditions<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship.\u201d There you go, thanks to the internet\u2019s go-to encyclopedia<\/a>. And yes, I am crowbarring that in to describe the current state of intra-McLaren title fight simply because Piastri hails from Down Under.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think he\u2019d mind, he\u2019s a very laid back bloke. He even happily chatted to members of the F1 press corps at his 21st birthday party<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But lots of people did object to how Piastri handled the end of last week\u2019s Italian Grand Prix. Specifically, handing second place back to Norris, after the Briton\u2019s slow pitstop. Many more couldn\u2019t understand McLaren for putting Piastri in such a situation.<\/p>\n

Piastri claimed he \u201cwouldn\u2019t regret<\/strong>\u201d losing the 2025 title by the three-point margin he swung back Norris\u2019 way come the season\u2019s end. And Patrick Iversen eloquently explained why he didn\u2019t believe this, nor agree with Piastri\u2019s decision to acquiesce to McLaren\u2019s request, to you in Tuesday\u2019s PT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pat followed Luke arguing that something just \u201cfeels off<\/a>\u201d about the jovial nature of the 2025 title fight as it currently stands.<\/p>\n

My colleagues are right. As F1 observers, we\u2019ve ended up conditioned to think an intra-team title fight must get nasty because the most famous examples of this situation have contained such a twist.<\/p>\n

From Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren in the 1980s, to Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes in the 2010s.<\/p>\n

Even the fleeting title challenge of Piastri\u2019s manager, Mark Webber, against his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel (and others) in 2010 contained the immortal line of needle<\/a>, \u201cnot bad for a number two driver<\/strong>,\u201d after Webber\u2019s point-making win in the 2010 British GP. And then, as Luke covered<\/a>, Vettel stuck his own needle in with the needless Malaysia 2013 Red Bull team orders debacle.<\/p>\n

Going back in F1 history, famous team boss Enzo Ferrari was very much not of the modern McLaren school of intra-team harmony. The duels between many of the drivers at his eponymous Italian squad have gone down in F1 legend. None more famous, and tragic<\/a>, than Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi in 1982.<\/p>\n

But this actually makes the tale of the 1956 Italian GP even more intriguing<\/strong>. There, Peter Collins (car number 26, above) gave his Ferrari over to teammate Juan Manuel Fangio (car number 22, above), while running in third place and with a shot at winning the title \u2014 if he could steal the race while the legendary Argentine stood in the pits. Fangio\u2019s car had suffered a broken steering arm.<\/p>\n

But, with Stirling Moss and Luigi Musso (who\u2019d refused to hand over his Ferrari to support Fangio) far ahead, Collins was \u201cperfectly content to wait till another year\u201d \u2014 according to the race report in then British weekly magazine, Autosport. Collins was killed in a 1958 German GP crash, without ever getting another title chance<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s far from the only example of sporting chivalry in F1 history.<\/p>\n

David Purley, Mike Hailwood and Senna are just a few of the true heroes that risked their own safety to try and save peers after terrible accidents. Thankfully, with increased safety standards, this has become far less common.<\/p>\n

But F1 still witnessed Vettel checking on Norris after the latter\u2019s Spa 2021 Eau Rouge qualifying shunt and George Russell doing likewise (albeit on foot) after Zhou Guanyu\u2019s scary flip<\/a> at the start of the 2022 British GP.<\/p>\n

Then, in a sporting sense, there are some other famous acts of F1 generosity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Stirling Moss (right) reassures Mike Hawthorn (center) his result in the 1958 Portuguese GP is safe (Bernard Cahier\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Moss was never certain<\/a> Fangio hadn\u2019t agreed with Mercedes to leave him ultimately uncontested to win the 1955 British GP in front of his home fans. And Moss himself showed a tremendous level of sportsmanship<\/strong> at the 1958 Portuguese GP (above, right).<\/p>\n

There, Moss\u2019 title rival Mike Hawthorn was initially disqualified from second place for restarting his car against the traffic flow on the course (as with car swapping, part of the rules of the era) after a spin.<\/p>\n

Having witnessed what happened, Moss went to the race officials to get the verdict overturned. This restored seven points for Hawthorn, who would later win the 1958 world title over Moss by just one point. Moss would never become an F1 world champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that he was my only rival didn\u2019t come into my thinking. Absolutely not,\u201d Moss would later say<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Such things were of a different age. But disagreeing with McLaren\u2019s current approach isn\u2019t wrong<\/a>. In a world lionized as the \u201cPiranha Club\u201d and with racing tactics getting more aggressive as F1\u2019s world championship history developed, expecting a more selfish approach is understandable.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also a compelling narrative<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Right now, McLaren is showing something different in the modern era. And something rather pleasant at that when you really think it through. It\u2019s worth savoring, even if it isn\u2019t ultimately a call you\u2019d make yourself.<\/p>\n

Inside the Paddock with Luke Smith<\/strong>COTA tracking for one of its biggest U.S. GPs yet<\/strong><\/p>\n

F1\u2019s European rounds are done for the year, so attention shifts to the flyaway races of the title run-in. Two visits to the United States are now looming.<\/p>\n

October\u2019s United States Grand Prix in Austin remains one of the biggest races on the calendar, with the crowd level regularly breaking the 400,000 mark. And 2025 is poised to push the event\u2019s own record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year is going to be in the top three attendance-wise,\u201d Bobby Epstein, Circuit of The Americas chairman, told The Athletic on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re still a month away, so it could really push the limits of the biggest year. But we\u2019ll certainly be up there in the top three, which is wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Epstein said the F1 movie\u2019s success had provided a \u201cbump\u201d to ticket sales. All the main hospitality clubs are already sold out, and there is great interest in the Garth Brooks show at the track on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Embracing the local culture, COTA is planning to turn Saturday\u2019s qualifying day into \u201cHat-urday\u201d by encouraging fans (and members of the paddock) to wear cowboy hats. A special COTA cowboy hat is also due to be sold.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re selling thousands of cowboy hats,\u201d Epstein said. \u201cYou look at a lot of sports that have events that have traditions. And so we thought, why don\u2019t we have our own tradition?\u201d<\/p>\n

COTA\u2019s existing F1 contract expires in 2026, but Epstein was relaxed about talks over a fresh deal with the championship\u2019s organizers, saying there was \u201cno reason why it won\u2019t be here for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why Sainz\u2019s Penalty Appeal Matters<\/strong>Zandvoort incident assessment result delayed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Carlos Sainz and Williams still don\u2019t yet know the outcome of their \u201cRight of Review\u201d appeal over the Spaniard\u2019s controversial penalty<\/a> for colliding with Racing Bulls driver Liam Lawson in the recent Dutch GP.<\/p>\n

A hearing with the Zandvoort stewards was convened on Friday afternoon, but the FIA has confirmed to The Athletic that a verdict is now not expected until Saturday.<\/p>\n

This all matters because Sainz could yet get the two super license penalty points he received from the stewards (along with a 10-second in-race penalty that can\u2019t be deleted) for what was blatantly a racing incident rescinded. And, if he doesn\u2019t, this just crystalizes a big problem with F1\u2019s racing rules in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll be running a full assessment on whatever happens early next week, as well as reporting on the full outcome tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Carlos Sainz with a puncture after his clash with Liam Lawson in the recent Dutch GP (Marcel van Dorst\/EYE4images\/NurPhoto\/Getty Images)Outside the points<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1 Max Verstappen is gearing up for his first real-life foray into sportscar racing<\/a>, in this weekend\u2019s NLS series race at the N\u00fcrburgring. It\u2019s unclear so far if he\u2019ll use his Franz Hermann pseudonym while driving a Porsche.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfc6 Earlier this year, Verstappen told Madeline Coleman about his sportscar ambitions \u2014 and his desire for anonymity \u2014 in this wide-ranging interview<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83c\uddef\ud83c\uddf5 This week, Madeline ran through Red Bull\u2019s choices for which driver it will partner Verstappen with in F1 2026<\/a>. This reveals just how much pressure Yuki Tsunoda is under to save his F1 career.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love Prime Tire? Check out The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Action from the 1956 Italian GP. Ami Guichard\/Klemantaski Collection\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Tire Newsletter | This is The Athletic\u2019s twice-weekly F1 newsletter. Sign up here to receive Prime Tire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4103],"tags":[4199,707,4200,4979,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-419548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-f1","8":"tag-f1","9":"tag-formula-1","10":"tag-formula1","11":"tag-motorsports","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115193697921837804","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}