DRIVERS ATTACK ORGANISERS AFTER TRACTOR ENTERS LIVE RACE CIRCUIT
Gasly furious after near miss as Japanese Grand Prix is halted early on
AlphaTauri racer Pierre Gasly has been supported after hitting out at the Japanese Grand Prix organisation as he came across a tractor on the circuit during an early stoppage.
The red flag flew after two laps of the race after Carlos Sainz had crashed his Ferrari and Gasly, who had started from the pitlane and then pitted early, was the last driver on track. The Frenchman narrowly missed the stationary rescue truck on the left-hand side of the road.
“What is this tractor on track?” Gasly shouted on team radio. “I passed next to it. This is unacceptable. Remember what has happened. Can’t believe this.”
The last fatality in F1 was when Marussia driver Jules Bianchi crashed into a rescue vehicle in rain at Suzuka. He later died from head injuries.
The FIA issued a statement after the incident saying that Gasly had not reacted correctly to the race being neutralised and called him to the stewards to explain his actions. Its statement said: “Car 10 [Gasly] reached speeds of up to 250kph when completing the lap under the red flag after passing the scene of the incident.”
The stewards handed Gasly a drivethrough penalty for the speeding, which was converted into a 20-second time penalty on his race result. He also received two points on his superlicence.
Sainz, who was already out of the race, said: “I don’t know if people understand, but even behind the safety car, we are going at 100-150 kph, and still at those speeds, we don’t see nothing, even behind the safety car.
“If one driver decides to get a bit out of the racing line or has a small aquaplaning or has to change a switch on the steering wheel and gets a bit out of line, and hits a tractor, then it’s over, no? I still don’t know why in these conditions we keep risking having a tractor on-track, because it’s just worthless. If you’re going to red flag it anyway, why risk it?”
McLaren racer Lando Norris added: “How’s this happened!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We want to race. But this…unacceptable.”
The director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association Alex Wurz took to social media. He wrote: “We need to discuss a tractor on-track. We can keep it short: this must not happen guys.”