Carlos Sainz was warning marshal about loose drain when Charles Leclerc's SF-24 hit it

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Jnr actively signaled the marshals about the debris danger on the Sakhir track when his Maranello teammate encountered a loose drain cover during today’s testing session in Bahrain, ahead of the 2024 Formula One championship.

This morning’s testing session at the Bahrain International Circuit was prematurely halted after Charles Leclerc damaged his Ferrari’s floor on the debris, which also suffered an impact from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes. Carlos Sainz, who had a similar incident in Las Vegas last year when his car hit a broken water valve cover, observed today’s unfolding scene firsthand.

“I was actually standing right in front of the drain cover when it came out, because I went on track to see,” – the Spaniard confirmed in an interview for the the official Formula 1 channel.

Recognizing that the marshals hadn’t noticed the loose drain cover on the kerb approaching turn 11, Carlos Sainz was in the process of alerting them when Charles Leclerc’s car approached.

“I was looking at it [thinking] ‘yellow flag it, yellow flag it, yellow flag it, someone’s going to take it!’ Boom, my team mate came and took it. So, I felt like it could have been avoided in a way. I missed it by one lap because I went to speak to a marshal and just when I was speaking to him, ‘yellow flag it…’ So I feel a bit to blame.” – he added.

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The mechanics of the Maranello team swiftly replaced Charles Leclerc’s damaged floor with a spare one while repairing the track damage. Although Carlos Sainz was initially slated to take over during the afternoon session, the unexpected early resumption of running after the disruption led to Charles Leclerc remaining in the car for the first hour after the lunch break. Subsequently, Sainz took control of the car and will complete the final four hours of the session.

Just a few months ago, Scuderia Ferrari voiced concerns about the marshals’ response to the loose water valve cover incident that Carlos Sainz encountered during the first free practice session for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Team boss Frederic Vasseur criticized the slow red-flagging of the session after noting damage to the track surface.