Carlos Sainz has suggested that the relatively slow response to his fire in Austria needs reviewing, in a bid to prevent a repeat scenario.
Sainz was on the brink of challenging Max Verstappen for second place at the Red Bull Ring when he suffered an engine failure along the back straight.
Sainz pulled the F1-75 onto the service road on the outside of the entry to Turn 4 that has a steep incline.
As the flames grew, and approached the cockpit, Sainz strives to extricate himself from the burning car but was wary of it rolling back towards the track.
Eventually a marshal arrived to place a block in front of Sainz’s right-front tyre, facilitating his exit, with the fire extinguished in the aftermath.
“It was not ideal and an easy situation for sure, I saw in my mirrors my car was catching fire but at the same time I was pressing the brake and as soon as I tried to jump out, I saw I was upwards and I didn’t want to leave the car completely free, out of control, rolling backwards,” explained Sainz.
“I was calling the marshals to come and help me to put something on the tyres to stop the car rolling down but I think the whole process was a bit slow and at some point there was so much fire that I had to really get a move on and jump out independently.
“I think it was just at that point it was when the first marshal arrived and stopped the car, so it’s definitely something we need to look at, what we could have done a bit faster, because it’s not the easiest situation to be in.”
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto outlined that Sainz’s failure is “very likely” the same as Charles Leclerc’s race-ending issue in Azerbaijan.
It means Sainz is likely to face an engine penalty but Binotto did not outline whether this would come as soon as the next race in France.
I also thought the chock used to prevent the run away, was too small and the front wheel could have easily hopped over it. Similar situation to Bahrain, where the marshals were also too slow off the starting block with extinguishers. Better training needed with a clear command structure and delineation of responsibilities at each marshal post. I was also surprised how small their extinguishers were. OK to have small ones as a fast first response to a fire but a larger model on wheels like they use in aircraft hangers, might be a good idea as a follow up. I know there is a fire response vehicle but it is often a minute before that arrives and that minute might be absolutely critical. If Romain Grosjean had been unconscious at Bahrain, it could have been a much more tragic outcome. The FIA needs to address this instead of messing about fining drivers who speak their mind.