It was a difficult day for the FIA. To the confusion over the outcome of the Japanese Grand Prix and the Formula 1 title for Max Verstappen, a much more serious situation was added, due to the consequences that could have ensued. The protagonist? Pierre Gasly, the French Alpha Tauri driver who also had a busy weekend with the confirmation that he will be the replacement for Fernando Alonso in Alpine next season.
The fact became known also at the end of the race on the Suzuka circuit, because it happened on the first lap but in the midst of a deluge that then forced the temporary suspension of the competition. What happened?
Gasly hit the remnants of the billboard of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz’s accident and had to pit to change the front wing, knocking him out at the back of the pack behind the safety car. The AlphaTauri driver said he was respecting the allowed delta lap time as he reached the group led by the safety car … until he inadvertently passed by the tractor that was trying to pull out the Spaniard’s Ferrari.
For the fact, Gasly received a penalty of 20 seconds after the race for speeding under the red flag, an argument of the FIA to explain the situation, but which also provoked the anger of the French and other drivers, since they recalled requests to change the crane entrance after Jules Bianchi’s fatal accident in 2014.
“I don’t understand how eight years later, in similar conditions, you can still see a crane, not even in the gravel, but on the finish line. It is not respectful towards Jules, his family, his loved ones and all of us.It was a dramatic accident and I think we learned that day that we don’t want to see any tractors in these kinds of conditions.“, assured Gasly, in the statements to the site motorsport.com.
“If I had lost the car similar to how Carlos did on the previous lap … I was going 200km / h but that’s not the point, even at 100km / h, if I lost it and I hit a 12-ton tow truck, I would have died right now“, to complete.
On the fact, he explained: “It’s a corner, so you don’t see it at all and there is a safety car, we have a delta lap time to respect and I was nine seconds slower than the delta lap time”.
“I am reaching the tail (of the group) and I saw it at the last moment and when I see it I go at 200 km / h. I tried to reduce the speed in an irregular way because if I had braked suddenly I would have lost the car and I would have ended up in Crane. I passed two meters to the right, two meters from death, which for me is not acceptable as a driver“, He added.
Gasly declined to go into detail on what he told FIA race director Eduardo Freitas when the race was red-flagged, but said the incident will be discussed for future changes.
“We were all in the pit lane a minute later. Risking our lives for a minute, I don’t think it’s acceptable. We have a delta lap time, there is a certain process we have to follow under the safety car, I was respecting that and there was a crane on the running line, “he summed up.
“I think we shouldn’t have risked our lives, but it’s something we have to discuss. The most important thing is for the future, what I want is for all my teammates to be safe and for all of us, both in F1 and in the lower categories, hopefully no one will face a similar situation. Hopefully we can finally learn from this situation “, he closed.
Alonzo’s support
One of the most emphatic on the situation that Gasly had to experience was the one who will replace the Alpine from next season, the Spaniard Fernando Alonso.
“The truth is that we have to talk to the FIA. After 2014, with the accident of Jules (Bianchi), the whole system has changed a bit, to prevent this from happening again and never happening again,” he said. said Alonso. .
“And that we saw it today, a tow truck on the track, no matter if there is a ‘safety car’, a red flag or a yellow flag … the track tow truck only has to go out when the cars are in ‘pit lane’, with the race neutralized “, he condemned.
“We will try to help the FIA and see how it went, who gave the order … to understand. Now it’s hard to say,” he said.
Source: Clarin
