Sainz: Alex Palou's achievements are admirable

      Last Sunday, Alex Palow, a three-time IndyCar champion, added to his achievements by winning the classic Indy 500 race. At one time, when Carlos Sainz was still involved in karting, he often had a chance to compete with Palou, and today the Spanish Williams driver was asked if Alex could compete in Formula 1.

      "Absolutely. I think anyone who can win the Indy 500 needs to be given a chance at some point to show what he can do behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car," Sainz is convinced. "And if he turns out to be fast, he needs to be invited to the World Championship. I always thought very highly of Alex because I was his team mate in the go-karting team and he was very fast.

      However, to be honest, what he has achieved in America is admirable. To dominate the way he does, you have to be a very good professional. And although Formula 1 is a completely different motorsport discipline, a different world, I have nothing but respect for Alex."

      After the race in Monaco, Alex Wurz, who founded the company Wurz Design a few years ago, which designs race tracks, proposed three ideas, the implementation of which will help to improve the situation with overtaking on a narrow urban ring.

      Here's what Carlos thinks about it: "He suggested making three small changes. One of them was to move the chicane at the exit of the tunnel a little further, the other was to widen the track at the Loews hairpin (now Fairmont), and the third was to make the entrance to the Rascasse turn a little steeper.

      My opinion is this: this will help improve the situation, but by a maximum of five percent, or even less. I suppose it will still be possible to position the car in the middle of the highway, slow down to 30 km/h, and no one will overtake you anyway.

      If the track is wider, you will have to act somehow more cunningly, look more closely into the rear-view mirrors if someone tries to take an internal trajectory. But the cars are so wide that you can drive as slowly as you want – your rivals won't be able to get ahead of you anyway.

      That's why we were driving four or five seconds slower. In general, with small changes, the effect will be the same. I think we need to come up with something more substantial.… I believe that it is necessary to organize a dialogue between the drivers, after which we will pass on our proposals to the FOM and the FIA.  

      I don't think anyone understands better than the drivers who drive these cars how easy it is to manipulate the results of a race, defend your position and drive 3-4 seconds slower, but still take the same place. Therefore, for the sake of the common cause, we all need to get together and figure out, based on common sense, what the simplest solution might be.…

      It is clear that the FIA and FOM preferred to introduce a two-stop rule, and it is clear that it did not work, at least in the middle of the peloton. Although, personally, I always welcome some new ideas and various kinds of experiments to see to what extent they can work. But it seems to me that everyone will benefit if the riders are involved in the decision-making process..."