Carlos Sainz raises health concern amid Singapore haze crisis

Carlos Sainz has raised health concerns about conditions in Singapore, with smoke haze from Indonesian wildfires pushing the city-state's air quality into the unhealthy bracket ahead of this weekend's grand prix.

Singapore's National Environment Agency confirmed that 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index readings across all five regions of the island crossed the unhealthy threshold in the build-up to the race, fluctuating generally between 101 and 160.

Anything above 100 on the index falls into the unhealthy category, with readings above 200 classed as very unhealthy and above 300 as hazardous.

The smoke has drifted in from agricultural and wildfire hotspots across Sumatra and Kalimantan, carried toward the region by prevailing winds and worsened by an intense weather pattern.

Hourly PM2.5 readings in parts of western and central Singapore have climbed as high as 150 micrograms per cubic metre, with brief spikes beyond that mark. Despite the conditions, on-track running is not expected to be interrupted.

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Sainz - 'A funny sport anyway'

Sainz said he had been following the situation closely.

"I've read a bit about it. It doesn't feel like the healthiest place to be breathing right now, given the amount of pollution from the fires in Indonesia," the Williams driver said.

"In these cases, we always go by what the authorities say, and if the authorities say it's good to do sport outside, like we are doing, which I'm not sure they are saying that..."

Told that the official directive is to limit outdoor activity, the Spaniard continued: "You know, it's a funny sport anyway.

"When we are racing, we are breathing the fuel burn of the car in front. We've done that since we were 11, 12 years old.

"So it's debatable whether it's a healthy or unhealthy sport, but we do it; we like it. It smells great. At least I love the smell of fuel.

"The haze is a different matter, obviously, but we need to go by what the authorities say."