Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz has labelled Safety Car restarts at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as "dangerous" and has called on Formula One to rethink restart procedures for the 2018 race.
The Spaniard recovered from a first lap spin to finish eighth in an incident-filled race in Baku that saw four Safety Car periods and a red flag. Much of the chaos ensued following Safety Car restarts, with a number of drivers bunching up and tagging each other along the start finish straight, sending debris scattering across the track on several occasions.
It was during the second Safety Car period when the biggest flashpoint of the race occurred, as Sebastian Vettel chopped across at rival Lewis Hamilton just before the restart. The nature of Baku's long 2.2 kilometre main straight means the Safety Car line is not crossed until after the kink of Turn 20, which is effectively half way down the straight just before the pit lane entry.
"It was probably the most dangerous part of the race when we restart," Sainz 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's walls and we cannot see through them. So suddenly we are going flat-out sixth, seventh gear and they were braking again. For me, a bit on the dangerous side."
Sainz reckons a new rule should be implemented for next year's race, where the race leader is obliged to restart from Turn 16.
"Probably for next year they should consider when the leader is obliged to push. 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.
"If I would have been the leaders then I probably would have done the same. It's not the leader's fault at all as I think all of us would have done the same to avoid the maximum possible slipstream that is on that straight. It's just the rule I think and if you want to be a bit more careful and make sure no accidents, if not, let it be and more things will happen."
When asked if he thought red-flagging the race in order to clean up debris at Turn 1 was the correct decision, Sainz replied: "I think in general the whole weekend has been pretty slow recovery. I don't think the red flag was necessary or maybe yes because there was so much debris, I don't know. But it's just when the recovery is so slow.
"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."