The Zandvoort stewards will reconvene for a right of review relating to the penalty handed to Carlos Sainz during the recent Dutch Grand Prix.

The Spaniard clashed with Liam Lawson 1 and was handed a 10 penalty after attempting to overtake the New Zealander on the outside of Turn 1 following the second restart. However, according to the stewards, the front axle of the Williams was not ahead of the front axle of the Racing Bull at the apex and as Sainz attempted to stay on the outside the collision occurred.

The stewards considered Lawson had the right to the corner and therefore Sainz was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident, consequently, as is standard for clashes of this nature, and as prescribed under the guidelines, they imposed a 10 second time penalty.

From hearing about the penalty moments after it was imposed, after the race and on arrival in Italy a week later, Sainz insisted that he was not in the wrong. Though he visited the stewards post-race at Zandvoort his pleas were ignored.

However, Williams agreed with their driver and submitted a right of review, stating that it is "important for us to understand how to go racing in future, and we are hopeful of a positive outcome".

The stewards will reconvene on Friday (12 August) and will be joined by representatives of both teams.

As ever, the first stage is to convince the stewards that the review is even admissible, and if it is deemed that it is a further hearing will investigate the actual incident.

For the right to review to be admissible, Williams must provide evidence that is significant, relevant and was unavailable to the stewards at the time of their original decision.

"The team representative is required to report to the Stewards on Friday 12th September 2025, at 15:30 CEST in relation to the above," read the FIA summons.

"The hearing will be held virtually via video conference, details of which will be provided by separate communication.

"It should be noted that this Hearing will be held in two parts. The first part will be to hear evidence and submissions from the petitioner as to whether there is a 'significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the Decision concerned'.

"Should the Stewards determine, in accordance with Article 14.3 of the FIA International Sporting Code, that such an element exists, a second part of the Hearing will be convened at a time to be advised, in all likelihood shortly after the first part of the Hearing. Any other 'concerned party' may seek the permission of the Stewards to appear."

Other than the fact that even without the penalty Sainz finished outside the points - his Williams having been damaged in the clash - it is not thought that the bid to overturn the decision will be successful, if only due to the amount of data and footage available to the stewards at the time of their original decision.

However, it could provide guidance in terms of future incidents at a time there remains much confusion among drivers over the existing guidelines, one of the main talking points in the drivers' briefing in Monza at the weekend.