The Formula 1 paddock has been left frustrated following a terrifying incident including Pierre Gasly and a recovery vehicle.
Gasly was involved in a controversial incident in the Japanese Grand Prix, whereby he passed a recovery truck at high speed on Lap 2 just after a Red Flag was called.
The Scuderia AlphaTauri driver left fuming after seeing the vehicle on track on the racing line, shouting his frustrations over the radio.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crashed out on Lap 1, aquaplaning out of the hairpin to bring out the Safety Car, and the recovery vehicle, after he impacted the wall in heavy rain.
Gasly was handed a post-race drive-through penalty, or the equivalent thereof, and two penalty points for speeding under red flag conditions.
However, the paddock overwhelmingly shared Gasly’s concerns and made no secret both during and following the race.
Lando Norris and Sergio Perez took to Twitter during the prolonged red flag session in Suzuka, slamming the incident as ‘unacceptable’.
Speaking to the media following his return to the paddock, Sainz made his anger clear.
“I don’t know if people understand but even behind the Safety Car, we are going at 100 km/h or 150 km/h and still at those speeds, we don’t see nothing – even behind the Safety Car,” said Sainz.
“If one driver decides to get up out of the racing line, or does has a small aquaplaning, or has to change the switch on the steering wheel and gets a bit out of line and hits a tractor, it’s over.
“I still don’t know why we keep, in these conditions, risking having a tractor on truck because it’s just worthless.
“The drivers want some serious answers from the FIA about this finally.”
Esteban Ocon was fourth under the Safety Car and was much slower in the wet conditions as he passed the incident, but still understood the difficulty for Gasly to make quick reflex decisions.
“We’ve lost enough friends with these vehicles in the past. I was at a very slow speed and I saw it, obviously, I was fourth, but it must have been a very different thing for the guys at the back, looking at how the visibility was poor,” said Ocon.
“These are things we do not want to see and we will discuss for the future.
“It is clear for us all and clear also for the FIA,” he added.
“In a way, it is dangerous to have a recovery vehicle, especially that heavy and in that position.
“When the race is neutralised under Safety Car, we are still doing very high speeds so we don’t want to see that.”
Alex Albon in the Williams retired on the first lap after a mechanical problem, stopping on approach to Spoon Curve.
“We already talked about it because it already kind of happened in Singapore, actually,” said Albon.
“I’m not sure but I think Seb [Vettel] raised it up in the drivers’ briefing earlier this week.
“It really dangerous and I think people don’t realize that of course, the FIA, I’m sure.
“We’re going to be on such discussions going into the next race about why it was that recovery.”
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