Carlos Sainz: The safety car must go faster

Many drivers emphasized that the conditions at the Las Vegas Grand Prix were not the most favorable, in particular Fernando Alonso spoke of the “danger factor”, believing that due to insufficient grip the level of risk during the race was very high.

His compatriot Carlos Sainz, who drives for Ferrari, drew attention to a specific problem and called on Formula 1 to work with the FIA ​​​​to find a solution. The point is that after a number of incidents in the 1st corner after the start, when the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) mode was introduced, it had a negative effect on the temperature of the rubber, which was already not sufficiently warmed up.

The cars slid violently around the track and shortly after the restart, Lando Norris lost control of his McLaren on lap 3, resulting in a serious accident at Turn 12. This marked the first appearance of a real safety car, and the second time it went on track after an incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell.

“After the safety car at the restart in Turn 1, it felt like you were driving on ice,” RacingNews365 quotes Sainz. – We need to find a solution so that the safety car goes faster in certain scenarios. I cannot explain how we feel when we accelerate to 340 km/h (on the circuit in Las Vegas it was Carlos who showed the highest top speed, accelerating to 366 km/h), knowing that when you press the brake pedal, the car doesn’t stop. Overall it was very difficult.”

The official safety car in Formula 1 is, depending on the event, a Mercedes AMG-GT Black Series or an Aston Martin Vantage.

These are the fastest safety cars that have ever raced in the world championship, and they appeared in Formula 1 precisely because the drivers had complaints in previous years, they were not happy that the speed behind the safety car was too low.