Carlos Sainz believes he should not have been penalised for an unsafe release during the Dutch Grand Prix – as he was forced to avoid hitting a member of another team's pit crew.
The Spaniard had a race to forget at Zandvoort as he eventually finished eighth. And the bulk of his problems came in the pit lane, with more questionable actions from his under-pressure and apparently error-prone Ferrari team.
His first stop was a disaster, as the call was made late and his pit crew was not ready. He spent 12.7 seconds stationary in his pit box while waiting for his rear left tyre to put put on, costing him valuable time.
To make matter worse, in their haste to get Sainz on his way, a wheel gun was left unattended and was run over by Sergio Perez as he came out of the Red Bull pits – race control was less than impressed with that particular blunder.
But his second pit stop did not go much better. While the changing of tyres went off without a hitch, he was released into the path of his fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso – for which he was give a five-second time penalty, dropping him three places in the final result.
He labelled that punishment as "a joke" as he explained his annoyance. He said: "I saw it in the car, by the time they released me it was clearly safe with Fernando but then I had to hit the brakes to not hit the McLaren mechanic who ran in my exit line.
"It was this braking that generated the unsafe release – if you can call it unsafe because I was clearly frustrated by it. I thought I had saved someone's life and not generated a dangerous situation."
He went on to suggest Alonso had made a meal out of the incident to ensure Sainz was given a penalty, adding: "He hit me because I had to brake because I had a McLaren mechanic in my way. You need to analyse every situation and by the time I was released by the mechanics, he was pretty far behind.
"The problem was this McLaren mechanic with a jack that ran into my driving line, I had to brake and I didn't get my pit exit right. Is it my fault? Is it my team's fault? No. Some guy with a jack at McLaren who ran into my driving line, I had to hit my brakes and I am sure Fernando also exaggerated a bit, hitting me to try and get me a penalty."
