F1 race director receives criticism again: 'Faster decisions needed'

In the last twenty laps, Tsunoda caused a safety car by driving out of the pit lane a little too enthusiastically. He braked in a spot where there was hardly any grip and planted his AlphaTauri car into the wall.

Ferrari had little time to react

"When Yuki crashed, it took a very long time for race control to decide to put the safety car out. He came onto the track when Sainz was already hard on his way to start-finish," Binotto is quoted by Speedweek.com. Fortunately, the strategists and pit crew were sharp. "Fortunately, our men then acted with lightning speed and brought Carlos in immediately. I think there was about a second to act and that's what we did."

If Sainz had already passed the pit lane, he would have had to join behind the safety car. Much of the field would have rejoined before Sainz had another chance to dive in for fresh rubber. In that case, he would have lost a lot of places.

Faster decisions needed in F1

Binotto further reveals that he thought the safety car was perhaps a bit unnecessary, as why would a virtual safety car not suffice in this situation? "I just wonder when the safety car was deployed: was it necessary? We need some quicker decisions from the race control," he concludes with a clear message.