Carlos Sainz believes the FIA should consider setting a stricter guideline for when the leader driver picks up the throttle at a Safety Car restart at next year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Last year there were problems in GP2, as Nobuhara Matsushita caught the Safety Car before it had re-entered the pits on one restart and waited until the last moment to pick the speed up in another, causing a crash on the straight and at Turn 1.
On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton also almost caught the Safety Car on the first restart and would have the now infamous altercation with Sebastian Vettel on the second as he made enough space for the Mercedes pace car to return to the pit-lane.
“It was probably the most dangerous part of the race when we restart,” the Toro Rosso driver explained. “The leaders were waiting up until the Safety Car line to start and at the same time, they were going fast and slow.
“For the guys at the back we are still in the corners when they going fast, slow, there are walls and we cannot see through them. So suddenly we are going flat-out in sixth, seventh gear and they were braking again. For me, a bit on the dangerous side.
“Probably for next year they should consider when the leader is obliged to push.”
Asked what he thought the solution would be, the Spaniard said: “I think they should just put a rule where the leader starts before Turn 16 and to be flat from 16 because you cannot be slow, slow braking, fast, slow braking all of the time in such a long straight with people actually thinking they are going.
“Suddenly you are upshifting and upshifting, and braking again. It was probably the most dangerous part of the race.
“I understand the FIA taking this kind of decision because you just avoid cars going into freezing tyres and crazy restarts. I think they were a bit fed up of the crazy restarts. They said let’s put the tyres up to temperature on the red flag, let’s clean the track properly, let’s avoid any punctures at high speed and let’s restart the race.”
