Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz has asked Formula 1 to work on improving the safety of the tight pitlanes which make things difficult at some circuit, as was the case last weekend in the Dutch Grand Prix. At the Zandvoort track, Carlos had a near miss with a McLaren mechanic during his second pit stop.
The incident was considered an unsafe release from Ferrari and as a result, the Spaniard received a five-second penalty, despite the fact that Carlos had to slow down in order to avoid the McLaren mechanic, which led to Fernando Alonso’s Alpine almost hitting the F1-75 car down the pitlane.
Both Scuderia Ferrari and the Spaniard pointed out after the Dutch Grand Prix that the release itself had been correctly timed, but explained that the presence of a member of the McLaren team determined the Ferrari driver to brake and swerve, which inevitably slowed his exit and almost led to the collision with the Alpine driver.
Carlos Sainz insisted that Zandvoort’s very tight pitlane led to this situation, adding that other circuits offer similar risks.
“I feel Zandvoort is a great track. I want to go back there every year and I want to keep racing at Zandvoort, Singapore, Budapest – I’m talking about narrow pit lanes. But we need to think about the mechanics and how tight everything is in there because it’s just too tight and I think we need to to improve the safety. We talk a lot about car safety, circuit safety, but in the pit lane I’m concerned that one day something could happen if we keep having these narrow pit lanes and so much going on, especially when there’s multiple pit stops going on at the same time.” – the Ferrari driver explained.
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Carlos Sainz’s close encounter took place during the intervention of the safety car, which of course determined many drivers to return to the pits with the goal of making a free pit stop, leading to congestion in the pitlane. The Maranello team discussed the incident with the stewards at the end of the Dutch Grand Prix and confirmed that he will put the topic on Friday’s drivers’ briefing in Italy:
“It hasn’t been questioned yet in a GPDA meeting or FIA meeting. But it’s something that I brought up to the stewards after the race explaining to them why did I have an unsafe release or what they called an ‘unsafe release’. I think I made the message clear to the stewards, they would pass that to the race director and the FIA. Whether it’s a matter that I would raise in the drivers meeting I haven’t thought about it, but it might be a possibility.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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