The Japanese Grand Prix serves as a weekend to forget for Carlos Sainz as his search continues for a performance breakthrough at Williams.

But, before he could fully put the race weekend behind him, Sainz was summoned by the stewards for a third time this race weekend, after arriving late for the national anthem ceremony ahead of lights out.

Carlos Sainz to see FIA stewards over national anthem attendance

Sainz went into the Japanese Grand Prix with a three-place grid drop after the stewards judged him to have impeded Lewis Hamilton – the driver who replaced him at Ferrari – during qualifying at Suzuka.

And that was after the stewards had hauled the Spaniard up for speeding in the pit lane by 13.7km/h, which resulted in a €1000 fine for his Williams team.

Sainz started the Japanese GP P15 and finished P14, on a day where team-mate Alex Albon scored two further points to take his season tally to 18, while Sainz has just the one, scored in China thanks to Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Pierre Gasly all being disqualified.

More to follow…

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