F1 drivers are furious and furious

anger Anger. Disagreement. Fear. These are some of the feelings expressed by F1 drivers for what they experienced at Japanese F1 GP last Sunday, something “never to be repeated”. Members of the grid were dismayed at the removal of the crane that had to pull Carlos Sainz’s accident car while the cars were still on track at the Japanese GP, with very little visibility, heavy rain and a lot of water on the track, in conditions in which any vehicle, no matter how slow, can compete with said machinery. This is something that already happened at the same Suzuka track in 2014 and cost Jules Bianchi his life. After 8 years, another disaster could happen, and for this reason, the pilots were clear that they would raise their voices at the next pilot briefing to Race Direction don’t repeat the same mistake.

The FIA ​​​​has already launched an investigation into what happened, and for now, the reason why the crane entered the asphalt with cars still rolling on it instead of waiting for the cars to stop in the pit lane due to a red flag . So far, it is only known that the crane entered with the vehicles after the ‘Safety Car’. All but Pierre Gasly, who had stopped momentarily in the pits to change a tyre, rode alone to rejoin the queue after the ‘Safety’. In that attempt, Gasly went very fast in front of the crane, at almost 200 km/h. It was sad to see that at that moment there were two operators on the asphalt, attaching the car to the crane. One of them was caught on camera in Sainz’s car, jumping out of the way as Pierre passed. Both could be involved in a serious accident if one of the single-seaters lost control, something that could absolutely happen due to the amount of water on the asphalt.

Gasly was probably running slower because he knew there was a crashed car there, because he passed there in the previous lap. He got very scared and made it clear that “he might die”. It was going fast, but the tow truck wasn’t supposed to be there.

From the photos of Gasly riding, it is clear that due to zero visibility, the tow truck was not visible until it was very close to his car. Hence the great fear taken by the French. But even Max Verstappen, behind the safety car, couldn’t believe his eyes. Realizing that there was a crane on the track, despite running fast, he decided to shift the steering wheel to his right, stepping onto the grass to avoid any trouble. Leclerc was hallucinating at that moment: “What is a crane doing there?” Said the Monegasque, who couldn’t help but remember the death of his best friend, Jules Bianchi, on the same track for the same reason.

The pilots’ subsequent statements were powerful. First, in the middle of the red flag period, ‘Checo’ Pérez and Lando Norris complained. “What the fuck. How did this happen!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risked our lives, especially in conditions like this. We want to race. But this… is not acceptable,” said McLaren’s Englishman.

“How do we make it clear that we don’t want to see a tow truck on the track? We lost Jules because of that mistake. What happened today is totally unacceptable!!! I hope this is the last time I see a tow truck on the track vehicle. the track!” track!” Pérez pointed out.

“If the pilots don’t see anything, you’re telling fate to do whatever it takes on a day like today because the 18 pilots that came behind me didn’t even seem to see me standing in the middle of the line. clue and it was sheer luck that they didn’t hit me. So think… things are a bit on the limit and I hope they make the right decision”, commented Carlos Sainz on ‘DAZN’.

“I passed two meters from that crane and if I wanted to go two meters to the left, I would be dead now,” said Pierre Gasly to ‘Sky’, making sure he felt “terrified” and furious at “no. respect” to the memory. of Jules Bianchi.

And Alonso, after the race stressed that it was something the drivers had to discuss with the FIA, something that would happen in Austin. “The truth is that we have to talk about it with the FIA. After 2014, with the Jules (Bianchi) accident, the whole system changed a bit to prevent that from happening again. And now we saw a crane on the track. . . never mind there Safety Car, yellow or red flag. The crane on the track needs to come out only when the cars are in the pit lane or the race is neutralized. So we will try to help the FIA ​​and see how it happened and who gave the order to understand, now it is difficult to give an opinion.”

The truth is the substitute for the controversial Michael Massey, Eduardo Freitas and Niels Wittich, despite their experience in other series, have been the center of much criticism for their slow decision-making in the many accidents this year. The obvious case is Monza GPwhere they took some time to announce the ‘Safety Car’ period, which ultimately prevented enough time to finish the race properly.