Carlos Sainz became 'a bit surprised that nobody came faster to help' him after his Ferrari caught fire at 2022 F1 Austrian GP

Carlos Sainz said that he was “a bit surprised” that the marshals did not come to his aid faster after his Ferrari caught fire at the Austrian GP last weekend.

Labeling the response of the on-track marshals as “quite strange,” Sainz revealed that he was forced to jump out of his car while it was rolling backwards towards the track. Speaking to Sky Deutschland in a post-race interview, the Ferrari driver said:

“It was quite strange. I saw the fire in the rear-view mirror and was a bit surprised that nobody came faster to help me. I was pressing the brake, but as soon as I tried to jump out, I didn’t want to leave the car completely free, out of control, and rolling backwards.”

He went on to say:

“I was calling the marshals to come and help me, to put something on the tyres to stop the car from rolling. At some point, there was too much fire, so I really had to get a move on and jump out, even though the car was moving.”

After his Ferrari power unit blew up in spectacular fashion on lap 58 of the Austrian GP, costing Carlos Sainz a potential P2 finish, he was forced to park his car in the Turn 4 run-off area.

However, since the area was on an incline, the car started to roll back towards the track as soon as he started to get out of the cockpit, even as the engine started to burn.

Meanwhile, fire marshals at the nearest outpost took nearly half a minute to come to Sainz’s aid, by which time he had already managed to jump out of the car.

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F1 marshal defends slow response to Carlos Sainz’s power unit blowout

The slow response of F1 marshals at the Red Bull Ring during Carlos Sainz’ power unit blowout received widespread flak from fans in the immediate aftermath. While many labeled the marshals in question as incompetent, others called on the FIA to do better to ensure driver safety.

But one of the marshals that was on duty during the Austrian GP has defended his co-workers' actions, claiming that they were acting as per race control instructions. In a post on Reddit, the marshal wrote:

“The [first] marshal who came with the fire extinguisher got the order through the radio to get the car with the big extinguisher. If you watched the scene further, he was driving the big black Hilux.”

The post further stated:

“Just so everyone knows. I don’t like what some people are writing since the man who is being criticized is one of the most experienced Marshals out there.”

Despite being a multi-billion-dollar global sport, F1 still employs amateur volunteers as marshals at race weekends. These individuals are unpaid and often only have basic training.