‘No respect for driver’s life’: Pierre Gasly leads criticism after TRACTOR appeared on track at Japanese Grand Prix… as AlphaTauri star criticizes ‘unacceptable’ conditions after his lucky escape at Suzuka
- Pierre Gasly lashed out at race control for putting him in an ‘unacceptable’ situation
- Gasly narrowly avoided crashing into a tractor that appeared on the track
- Torrential rain caused terrible conditions at the Japanese Grand Prix
- Red flag waved after Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon fell in the first lap
Jules Bianchi’s father lashed out at race control at the Japanese Grand Prix, claiming they “have no respect for the driver’s life or Jules’ memory” after Pierre Gasly narrowly avoided a serious tractor accident on the track
In torrential rain with very limited visibility, the red flag was waved after Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon collided, forcing the drivers to return to pit-lane.
But when Gasly, who was at the back of the grid, did so, he came perilously close to a serious accident as he narrowly avoided a tractor that had come onto the track to pick up Sainz’s wrecked Ferrari.
AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly has criticized the race control team at the Japanese Grand Prix
A tractor appeared on the track at Suzuka after a red flag was waved on the first lap.
The AlphaTauri driver was lucky and managed to get out of the accident unharmed.
‘What is this tractor on the track?’ AlphaTauri’s star was fuming over the team radio. ‘I walked past… this is unacceptable. I can not believe this.
His anger continued with the engineers in the garage and he then stormed the pit wall to demand an explanation, claiming that he “could have killed himself” had he not reacted quickly to avoid the recovery truck.
The near miss drew the ire of Philippe Bianchi on Instagram, as it conjured up memories of the 2014 installment of the Japanese GP, when Jules Bianchi suffered a horrific accident that cost him his life.
In conditions even more treacherous than those Gasly battled, Bianchi spun off the track under two waving yellow flags before running under a tow truck that was pulling another car off the track after an accident.
Injuries sustained by Bianchi in that accident caused severe brain damage and the Frenchman never regained consciousness before he died in 2015.
Gasly said it was ‘unacceptable’ for a tractor to enter the track before the drivers were in the pit lane.
Gasly’s teammates who overtook the tractor that surprisingly had entered the track before all the drivers had returned to pit lane were not happy about the lack of communication in such poor visibility.
“Even behind the safety car, we’re going at 150km/h and we still can’t see anything,” Sainz said.
‘If a driver has a little aquaplaning, or goes off the racing line and hits a tractor, it’s over. Why risk a tractor on the track? They were going to red flag anyway.
Albon revealed that Sebastian Vettel raised issues like the one at Suzuka a week ago at a drivers’ meeting.
“The damn crane on the track there… not great in these conditions,” added a furious Nicholas Latifi. ‘Very silly, actually.’
Alex Albon, who suffered a failure on the first lap, questioned why they ‘risked’ a tractor on the track
Vettel, who won his second world title with Red Bull here 11 years ago, continued: “Next time, they should let us know if there’s a fucking tractor on the road.” I know we’re under Safety Car, but at turn 12, there’s this…”
In defense of the tractor being on the track, the FIA said: “The safety car was deployed and the race was neutralized. Car 10 (Gasly), which had sustained damage and stopped behind the safety car, was driving at high speed to reach the field.
“As conditions deteriorated, the red flag was shown before Car 10 passed the crash site where it had been damaged on the previous lap.
Race control confirmed the incident involving Gasly and the recovery car is being investigated after the race.
