Formula One driver Carlos Sainz would have needed the help of track officials sooner when his car caught fire in the Austrian race. According to Mika Salo, who has been part of the F1 jury for years, stewards can’t rush onto the track just because of that.
A dangerous situation was seen at the Formula One Austrian GP on Sunday, when the Ferrari, which had driven to the side of the track due to an engine failure, Carlos Sainz the car caught fire. Sainz left his car on the uphill and couldn’t get out of the race without it rolling backwards.
The officials did not immediately rush to help the Spaniard who got into a difficult situation. Sainz thinks the stewards could have acted faster.
– I shouted to the officials to put something behind the wheels so that the car wouldn’t move backwards. The whole situation went quite slowly. Finally I had to jump out of the car. At that point the first officer came and stopped the car, Sainz said (you will switch to another service).
Also Urheilu’s expert Jukka Mildh would have hoped for a faster reaction from the administrators.
– The stewards didn’t immediately go to Sainz’s car, even though they saw everything on TV. The car caught fire really quickly with big flames. The situation could have been even crazier when the car was still moving backwards, Mildh pointed out.
The situation went according to the rules
Former formula driver and F1 jury member for years Mika Salon according to the situation seemed a bit strange and slow. Salo was not on the jury for the Austrian competition.
However, Salo estimates that the situation went according to the rules. The steward can’t rush onto the track just because of that.
– We have to wait for permission to go over the fences to the track area from the race management. We have to wait for the yellow flags to come and for the drivers to know how to shut up. There will only be more dangerous situations if you rush onto the track just because of that.
The situation was exceptional because Sainz’s Ferrari was moving backwards downhill.
– Maybe the car should have been driven in a slightly different position for that.
According to Salo, track officials go through safety training before competitions.
– They are all up to date. F1 officials are very professional.
There is no safe motorsport
According to Salo, the security situation can always be improved. Dangerous situations have been surprising situations that are difficult to predict.
– Grosjean’s situation was such that no one ever believed. So that no one could drive to that part of the fence. Likewise Zhou at Silverstone, who would have expected the car to fly between the fences.
Salo says that the F1 organization works closely with drivers and teams to make the sport safer.
– There is no safe car racing and there won’t be, but we try to minimize all (risks) so that no personal injuries happen.