Carlos Sainz clarified his comments on the reaction of the marshals to his car fire at the Austrian Grand Prix.
After having retired from the Austrian GP due to an engine failure, Sainz noted that the response of the marshals to his car fire was “a bit slow”. Red Bull Ring safety crew later released a statement in response, explaining their actions.
Ahead of the French GP, Sainz assured that he did not mean to criticize the marshals.
“I can understand why they wrote it [the statement] because I guess what I said after the race felt like a criticism to them,” he said.
“I didn’t intend at all [for it] to come out as criticism. Because I am the first one that always speaks very highly about marshals and the heroes that they are and the way they volunteer to be in these kind of situations and protect us.
“I never wanted to make it sound like a criticism to anyone. I just wanted to make sure that it was analyzed and see where we can do better next time. Because it wasn’t a comfortable moment in the car.
“And it felt a bit hectic at the time and a bit messy. So, yeah – the explanations didn’t arrive to me, I saw them through the media, which is maybe something that I will need to talk with the FIA [about].”
