Carlos Sainz was one of several drivers who were involved in different incidents coming out of their pit stops during the Zandvoort weekend, in fact he was penalized for getting into the path of Fernando Alonso.
In the first pit stop of the Madrid driver, Sergio Pérez ran over a Ferrari pistol when leaving the Red Bull box in the middle of a disastrous stop for the Maranello team.
After these two events, the Spanish driver claims to be concerned about the risks posed by the narrowest pitlanes on the calendar for the team personnel who work in that area.
The next race, the Singapore Grand Prix, also features one of the narrowest pitlanes of the season, so he could once again be the protagonist of dangerous actions.
“I think it’s something that isn’t talked about enough, that we have some pitlanes during the year that are definitely too narrow,” he said.
“We have to improve the safety of the mechanics, because we forget that those people who wear overalls and helmets during the pit stops are in the middle of the cars, which are passing them at 80 km/h, and they are centimeters from those incidents and very dangerous situations.
“And I feel that Zandvoort is a great circuit, I like to go back there every year. And obviously, I want to keep racing at Zandvoort, Marina Bay or Budapest, the problem is the narrow pitlanes.”
“We have to think about how tight everything is in that area, because it’s too tight. And I think we have to improve security in that regard.”
Sainz explained that the pitlane can be very dangerous, especially when several cars from the same team stop with the safety car.
“We talk a lot about the safety of the cars, the safety of the circuit. But in the pitlane I am concerned that one day something serious could happen if they continue to be so narrow and with so many things in between, especially when there are multiple pit stops at the Same time”.
GPDA president George Russell agreed with Sainz that the FIA should review pitlanes that are narrower.
“In Zandvoort it was all too tight, and something has to be done about it,” said the Mercedes driver. “It must be quite overwhelming for the mechanics doing the pit stop.”
“When you have a car coming in at 60 or 80km/h, or you’re coming out of the garage, the tires are cold, the car is spinning. So on a circuit like that I’m not quite sure what the solution is, but we have to find something, for sure,” Russell concluded.
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