Sainz had to take his third energy store of the season after it was damaged when he ran over a water valve cover in FP1.
The change automatically triggered a 10-place penalty, and there was widespread sympathy for Ferrari in the paddock given that the incident was outside the control of the team and driver, and was caused by a fault with the circuit.
“Something that we could change is the penalty for Carlos,” said Fernando Alonso, who narrowly avoided hitting the same valve cover. “It is a little bit harsh.”
The issue of voiding penalties for PU or gearbox changes in the case of special circumstances has been discussed in the past, but the teams blocked any move to have such an option incorporated into the regulations.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur lobbied the stewards for a waiver, pointing out that unlike a complete fresh power unit, a new energy store would not give Sainz an advantage.
"It's not an easy one, to give a set of tyres or to give an engine, because it's a gain of performance,” he said. “But the battery? There is no performance into the battery.
“Considering that we missed FP1, that we are a couple of millions of damage, that the mechanics worked like hell to come back and so on, I think it was not too stupid to consider the case of force majeure."
Source: Autosport