Williams have been hit with a €1,000 fine after Carlos Sainz was caught speeding in the pit lane during practice at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Sainz was clocked moving at 93.7 kilometres per hour – 13.7 kph over the 80kph limit – in the closing minutes of Friday’s opening practice session at Imola.

Williams fined after Carlos Sainz caught speeding in the pit lane at Imola GP

The incident – a breach of Article 34.7 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations – was referred to the FIA stewards, who imposed a financial penalty on the Williams team.

The stewards’ verdict read: “Car 55 exceeded the pit lane speed limit which is set at 80 km/h for this event by 13.7km/h.

“Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.

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“Decisions of the Stewards are taken independently of the FIA and are based solely on the relevant regulations, guidelines and evidence presented.”

Sainz’s fine marred an otherwise impressive session for the former Ferrari driver, who posted the third-best time of the session behind the dominant McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Sainz’s fastest FP1 lap of 1:16.597 was just 0.052 seconds slower than Piastri’s benchmark.

The Spaniard slipped to 10th in Friday’s FP2 session at Imola, with team-mate Alex Albon marginally faster in ninth.

Sainz arrived at Imola on the back of his most impressive showing as a Williams driver at the Miami Grand Prix earlier this month.

The 30-year-old qualified a fine sixth in Florida before finishing ninth.

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Sainz was left angry at the chequered flag in Miami after confusion on the Williams pit wall resulted in Albon overtaking his team-mate, moments after Sainz had been left under the impression that Albon would not attack him.

“That’s not how I go racing, guys,” Sainz was heard telling Williams over team radio at the chequered flag. “I don’t care. I don’t care. I’ve lost a lot of confidence here on everything.”

Sainz’s comments led to James Vowles, the Williams team principal, vowing to “significantly tighten up” communication between drivers and race engineers going forward.

Vowles said: “There’s a lot of learning that comes out of this. What I can assure everyone is it simply won’t happen again.

“We are so fortunate to have two world-class drivers that are fighting for us and will do absolutely everything right for the team.

“And our job is to create the right construct for them.”

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