Williams driver Carlos Sainz was briefly handed a grid penalty for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix following his retirement in Bahrain before it was rescinded by the FIA.

It came after the Bahrain Grand Prix was struck by an apparent F1 systems failure, with George Russell’s Mercedes most noticeably affected by the glitch.

FIA rescind Carlos Sainz penalty after Bahrain GP confusion

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Sainz was handed a 10-second time penalty, as well as two points on his superlicence, during Sunday’s race in Bahrain for causing a collision with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The Williams driver served his punishment before retiring from the race on Lap 45 of 57.

However, the fact that Sainz served his penalty did not initially register on the FIA’s system with the F1 governing body announcing that his punishment would be converted into a three-place grid drop at this weekend’s race in Jeddah.

Analysis: Bahrain Grand Prix

👉 Bahrain GP conclusions: Lando’s familiar frailties and why Verstappen’s breaking point is bad news for Russell

👉 Bahrain GP driver ratings: Perfection for Piastri and messy mistakes for Norris

A statement read: “As the penalty was unable to be served due to the driver being unclassified in the Race, in accordance with Article 54.3 of the Formula One Sporting Regulations, the penalty is converted to a 3 grid position penalty for the next Race in which the driver participates.”

However, the mistake was soon spotted by F1’s governing body, which recalled the statement and issued a correction 39 minutes later.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com after the race, Sainz held up his hands for his collision with Antonelli, putting the contact down to being on cold tyres after the Safety Car with his car already damaged from an earlier incident with Yuki Tsunoda.

He said: “This was just a heat-of-the-moment [incident] fighting for positions.

“After the Safety Car restart with a cold hard [tyre] and no downforce in the car, I just locked up and went a bit wide.

“I was trying to let him by but then there was Alex, so I decided to let Alex by knowing that he’s my team-mate.

“It resulted in a 10-second penalty, but I knew I was going to retire anyway.”

Sainz was heard calling for Tsunoda to be handed a penalty too in the moments prior to his retirement, claiming “what he did to me was stupid” at the exit of Turn 1.

Sainz told media including PlanetF1.com that he lost as much as 50 points of downforce in the clash with Tsunoda.

He said: “I was going to get Yuki back [for passing me earlier].

“I did actually do a good move into Turn 1 and then exiting Turn 1 I think he lost the rear and touched my my sidepod with a big snap that he had to catch.

“And that was a race over for me, because I lost 40-50 points of load and that makes you a second and a half slower and you just go backwards from then on.”

More on Carlos Sainz and Williams

👉 Carlos Sainz news

👉 Williams news

Asked if he was surprised that Tsunoda was not investigated, he replied: “Well, he did lose the car fighting with me and that cost me the race.

“At the same time, when I look at the onboard, [it is a] kind of race incident also.

“It cost me my race. A bit of a lack of control from him in that situation, but at the same time if I was Yuki and you lose the car a bit in the middle of a fight, you would understand why you don’t want a penalty.

“So bit of a tough one to call, but this time it cost me a bit. I got the wrong side of the coin and it is what it is.”

Sainz remains with just one point to his name so far this season with 10th place in China his best result for Williams since his arrival from Ferrari.

Read next: What’s going on at Red Bull? The story behind the RB21 woes