Sainz F1 grid penalty after Vegas incident a “huge hit” for Ferrari

Sainz’s car suffered severe damage after running over a water valve cover early in the opening session of practice.

The team had to rebuild the car around the spare chassis, and also swap the power unit and gearbox.

Unfortunately for the Spaniard, one of the damaged items was the energy store, and by taking a third example for the season he automatically triggered a grid penalty.

Vasseur tried to argue with the stewards that it was a case of…