I saved someone’s life and got a penalty, Carlos Sainz is angry. He says he was innocently involved in the pit situation

In the Dutch Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz received a five-second penalty from the race directors during his second pit-stop when he hesitated while exiting his pit stall and was launched directly into the path of Fernando Alonso. However, after the race he was highly frustrated as he reportedly stopped for a McLaren mechanic on his exit.

The 28-year-old Spanish driver was given a five-second penalty in the Dutch Grand Prix for a dangerous pit stop.

But that was reportedly due to the cramped pit lane at Zandvoort. After completing the pit-stop, he had time to leave his pit stall and join the pit lane. However, it was on exiting that pit lane that he subsequently had to slow down to avoid hitting the McLaren mechanics.

They were pit-stopping Lando Norris. This delay at the pit exit then meant that when Sainz finally got going, he pulled into Alonso’s path.

Due to the penalty, Sainz then lost his final fifth place and dropped down to position number 8. On lap fifty-five, Valtteri Bottas stopped his Alfa Romeo at the end of the home straight and the safety car came out on track.

This logically caused the entire starting field to come together and Sainz did not gain enough ground by the end of the race to prevent the penalty from causing him to drop down the results list.

Sainz’s statement

“When the team let me go, it was clearly safe, I wouldn’t have got in Fernando’s way. But then I had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting a McLaren mechanic who stepped into my exit lane. And that’s what caused what we’ll call a dangerous launch,” Sainz said in one of his post-race interviews.

“If that was a dangerous launch, I’m really very frustrated. I thought I saved someone’s life and didn’t create a dangerous situation,” he explained.

“The problem is, a guy with a jack ran into my exit route, I had to brake and didn’t exit the pits properly. But is it my fault? Is it my team’s fault? No, the McLaren mechanic jumped in and I had to slam on the brakes. I’m sure Fernando was also a bit over the top when he called me out in an attempt to get me a penalty,” he concluded.

F1 TV, Motorsport