Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz has provided details about the incident which led to him receiving a time penalty in the Dutch Grand Prix at the Zandvoort circuit and pointed out that an errant McLaren mechanic was at fault for the unsafe release.
Following a first bad pit stop, in which his Maranello mechanics were confused by the late call and lost valuable seconds while trying to identify the missing left rear tyre, Carlos Sainz later suffered an even worse second pitstop: the Spaniard was let out into the pathway of Fernando Alonso’s Alpine and narrowly avoided contact in the pit lane.
Ferrari strongly argued against the decision, the stewards took a dim view of the incident and Carlos Sainz received a five-second time penalty which was added on at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix. As a result, despite finishing in P5 on track, the Ferrari driver was relegated to P8.
Asked to look back at that second pit stop, Carlos Sainz confirmed that a McLaren mechanic carrying a jack was in his way. This forced him to brake in order not to run over the McLaren mechanic, which was also pointed out by Ferrari to the race stewards:
“By the time they released me, it was clearly safe with Fernando, but then I had to hit the brakes to [not] hit the McLaren mechanic that ran into my exit line,” Carlos Sainz explained, after the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort – “It was this braking that generated the unsafe release. I was frustrated by it because I thought I’d saved someone’s life and not generated a dangerous situation.” – he added.
Fernando Alonso’s view over the team radio annoyed Carlos Sainz, who believes the Alpine driver just wanted to take advantage of the situation and in fact overreacted with regard to the possible danger caused by the unsafe release from the Maranello team. Carlos also thinks that the release wasn’t his or Ferrari’s fault as he continued to blame the errant McLaren mechanic.
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“The problem is there was this McLaren guy that with a jack running into my driving line, and I had to brake, and I couldn’t get the pit exit right, but is it my fault? Is it my team’s fault? No, it is some guy with a jack at McLaren that runs into my driving line, and I had to hit the brakes. And I’m pretty sure so Fernando exaggerated a bit to try and get me a penalty.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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