Carlos Sainz will receive a 10-place grid penalty during the French Grand Prix. The Spaniard and his team Ferrari have decided that they will change the control electronics after his car burst into flames in the Red Bull Ring two weeks back.

This is undoubtedly an enormous blow for Sainz as he had a strong momentum in the last few races. In the last 5 Grand Prix, he has been on the podium thrice, including the famous win in Silverstone. The other two were retirements due to no fault of his own.

Fortunes have not favored the Ferrari man, as reliability issues have been a constant theme for the team from Italy. Sainz was hunting down Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring for a potential podium place before tragedy struck him. He will hope for a strong qualifying performance to reduce the impact of the 10 place grid penalty.

Furthermore, he spoke regarding this during an interview ahead of the French GP. ”There’s a chance we will put a new engine this weekend, which would involve a penalty. But we haven’t taken the final decision yet,” he said.

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Well, Ferrari has now taken the decision and feel this is the right time. Meanwhile, reports suggest that more changes in Sainz’s car could follow, which means he will start from the back. Fans could not believe his rotten luck and took to twitter to express their views.

F1 twitter reacts to the grid penalty for Carlos Sainz

Sainz’s gird penalty is something the Ferrari faithful did not want to hear. He has played a crucial part in keeping the championship hopes alive. After finally securing a victory in Silverstone, his poor luck in the last race is followed by a penalty which disappointed the fans.

The onus now is on Charles Leclerc to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. The Monegasque broke his winless drought with a nerve-racking performance in Austria and will look to close the gap to Verstappen.

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With that being said, Sainz’s fans are not giving up. They believe he could recover from the back of the grid and ultimately secure a podium. Well, time will tell.

The French GP’s FP1 is underway and Sainz is already showing pace and consistency. Can he recover from the penalty and secure an unlikely podium?