SUZUKA, Japan -- Formula One drivers and team bosses have called for answers from the FIA after a recovery vehicle entered the track at the Japanese Grand Prix while Pierre Gasly was still circulating a soaking wet Suzuka circuit at more than 200km/h. An investigation will now get under way to understand how such a dangerous situation could be allowed to unfold, with Gasly later telling the media that he was just two metres away from being involved in a fatal collision.
The incident drew comparisons with Jules Bianchi's accident at the 2014 Japanese GP, when he crashed into a crane in a gravel trap and sustained serious brain damage. He died the following year from the injuries.
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The FIA has a long record of bringing about safety changes as a result of lessons learned from accidents and near misses, and there is a strong push from F1's drivers to see a similar reaction following Sunday's race.
The incident occurred on the second lap of Sunday's Japanese GP after a chaotic opening lap. All 20 drivers started the race on intermediate tyres -- usually used when conditions are crossing over from wet to dry -- but as the race got underway, the conditions worsened significantly.
Carlos Sainz, who was running in third place, aquaplaned on the straight after the Turn 11 hairpin and crashed heavily into the barrier near Turn 12. The impact resulted in part of the advertising hoarding being ripped off the barrier and deposited onto the track, which Gasly then hit after being unsighted by spray from other cars. With other spins and Alex Albon's Williams stopping at the side of the track following contact with one of the Haas cars, race control called a safety car.
As Gasly had damage to his car's front wing, however, he went straight back to the pits as the rest of the cars caught up with the safety car. When Gasly returned to the track on his own, he was driving faster than the safety car in order to catch up but within a delta time displayed on his steering wheel. The delta time is set to ensure drivers are able to catch up with the train of cars behind the safety car but is made high enough to make sure they do so at a safe speed. In the very wet conditions, however, it still meant Gasly regularly exceeded 200 km/h (120 mph).
At some point during the second lap and once the safety car had picked up the pack of cars minus Gasly, a flatbed truck and a crane were deployed onto the track to clear Sainz's car. The safety car guided 17 of the cars past the recovery vehicles, although some drivers were still surprised to see the crane and truck on track.
When Gasly came across the recovery vehicles he was doing 200 km/h, with footage from his onboard camera showing just how close he came and how bad the visibility was. An onboard camera that was still running on Sainz's car also showed the surprise of marshals who were already working on preparations to lift the Ferrari onto the recovery vehicle.
"We have a delta lap time to respect and I was nine seconds slower than the delta lap time, so I am catching the queue and then I saw it at the last minute, and when I see it, I am doing 200kph," Gasly explained. "I tried to slow down but not in an erratic manner, because if I slammed on the brakes I would've lost the car and I would've ended up in the crane.
"I came past two metres on the right, two metres away from passing away today, which I don't think is acceptable as a race driver."
Gasly's onboard footage also shows the race was red flagged just moments before he came across the recovery vehicles, although he only had one light panel to warn him ahead of the accident site and it changed to red only as he approached it. Once the red flags were shown the race was suspended and all cars returned to the pits.
When asked by ESPN, the FIA did not offer an explanation as to why the recovery vehicles were on track other than to say a full investigation would take place.
Article 2.6.1 of the FIA's International Sporting Code states "no marshal or vehicle shall enter the circuit perimeter without permission from race control," suggesting the recovery vehicles should not have been there without the knowledge and permission of FIA race director Eduardo Freitas.
It is normal for marshals and recovery vehicles to enter the track under safety car conditions, although usually in dry conditions and once all cars have joined the queue behind the safety car. The idea of having a safety car is to allow a break in the traffic for marshals to work on recovering a vehicle and each marshal post has a line of communication back to the clerk of the course and race control to ensure it is done safely.
Yet given how bad the conditions were, it is not clear why the recovery vehicles were allowed on track before Gasly had been given a chance to catch the pack or, simply, the race had been suspended by a red flag. As Gasly said after the race: "We were all in the pit lane a minute later. Risking my life for one minute, I don't think that is acceptable."
Another concerning factor was teams had not been made aware of the recovery vehicle's presence on track, so there was no way of warning the drivers over team radio. TV camera pictures had not picked up their presence and no alert was given by race control, making it impossible for the drivers to be warned of what was happening at Turn 12.
Figuring out how a recovery vehicle was let onto the track in those circumstances will be the main focus of the investigation, with all lessons being applied to either the regulations or race control's procedures in the future. The obvious comparisons with Bianchi's accident in 2014 mean everyone in the sport knows how serious Sunday's near miss was.
"It needs a full investigation into it, because after the tragedy of Jules Bianchi that is something you never want to see again," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "I'm sure the FIA will do a full investigation, but recovery vehicles like that should never be on the track when cars are running around."
Another question is whether the race should have been allowed to go ahead with a standing start instead of a safety car start. Once racing got back under way two hours later, it did so behind the safety car, which was also an option for race control ahead of the original start.
"I think as first, should we have started the race standing start or should we have started behind the safety car at first?" Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said. "I think behind the safety car would have been certainly safer, and safety should have always been put in that first position.
"Why I'm saying that, because as soon as we started, a lot of drivers, obviously most of the drivers on intermediate tyres which were the fastest, but then very little grip, very little visibility, and maybe by starting behind the safety car, it would give you at least a couple of laps to understand the situation, have the feedback from the drivers before deciding to go for it.
"I think at first that was a critical point. The second, certainly the crane, having the crane on-track while the cars are running, we said that [was] very dangerous. It should not happen. So overall, I think it has been a bad situation that again needs to be addressed. It cannot happen anymore."
The drivers were particularly disappointed by the situation as the subject had been discussed in their briefing with Freitas on the Friday before the race after a recovery vehicle was released on track a week earlier in Singapore while drivers were behind the safety car on slick tyres in damp conditions. Mercedes driver George Russell, who is also the director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, said a complete rethink of how to deal with recovering vehicles should be considered, especially in wet conditions.
"There are no circumstances in which we are happy to see a tractor on track," Russell said. "There is a lot of talk about Pierre [driving too fast] but that's irrelevant. There were 17 other cars on track and none of us passed that tractor and saw a lot of what was going on, because you obviously had to move out of the spray to get a clear view and then you are in line with the tractor. Especially in wet conditions, in the wet, intermediate or drying, there is no circumstances in which having a tractor [on track] is acceptable.
"In our view it is pretty straightforward: no tractors on track. And if you need a tractor on track, red flag it."
Excerpt from:
Pierre Gasly's near miss in Japan: How did it happen and what comes next? - ESPN