Carlos Sainz criticized the reaction of the stewards after the Austrian GP, which the Spaniard considered too long. Since then, the Red Bull Ring safety team has responded to the criticism.
Carlos Sainz criticized the reaction of the stewards after the Austrian GP, which the Spaniard considered too long. Since then, the Red Bull Ring safety team has responded to the criticism.
In a Facebook post, the safety team says that it is not allowed to intervene like this, pointing out that the rules in this area have been drastically tightened since Jules Bianchi's tragic accident in 2014.
"Intervention is only allowed after instructions from race control," reads the statement. "On the one hand, this naturally increases the safety of the drivers and stewards, but on the other hand it has the disadvantage that interventions take a little longer."
The statement further points out that Sainz's incident was a combination of "several unfortunate circumstances." Sainz's car was not visible from the aid station, which made it difficult to assess the severity of the fire.
As a result, the inspectors were instructed to go to the car with fire extinguishers, but as soon as they saw it they decided to take the fire engine. "This decision had to be made within seconds and in retrospect was absolutely right," the message continues.
The safety team refers to Romain Grosjean's accident in 2020 to reinforce their point. "In such a situation, portable fire extinguishers are not sufficient, which is why the extinguisher was placed on the ground and the (fire) engine was called.
For this reason, viewers saw the bizarre image of an inspector dropping his extinguisher and running away, which led to much discussion and speculation. What made the situation even more difficult, according to the stewards, was Sainz's Ferrari rolling backwards.
A block had to be placed behind the steering wheel, but Sainz could no longer keep his foot on the brake at that point as the fire spread quickly. For this reason, the process also took longer than intended, the statement continues. After that, the fire could be extinguished "
The safety team says it will review and discuss the situation internally to see what can be improved, but stresses that the commissioners in this exceptional situation "generally responded well."