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Lando Norris and Sergio Pérez did not hold back on Twitter during the red flag period when discussing Pierre Gasly’s near miss with a recovery crane Sunday at the Japanese Grand Prix.
A chaotic opening lap unfolded as rain resulted in very low visibility for the 20 cars zipping around Suzuka Circuit. Carlos Sainz aquaplaned into a barrier, two other cars spun at different points of the track and a piece of an advertising board ended up on the front nose of Gasly’s car.
The Frenchman pitted as the pack filed behind the safety car, and he rapidly tried to rejoin the pack but says he was slower than the delta lap time. Gasly was going approximately 200 kph—roughly 124 mph—when he came up on the crane, which was deployed to help with Sainz’s car.
Gasly said after the race that he came within two meters of hitting it.
“I tried to slow down, not in an erratic manner, because if I slammed the brake, I would have lost the car and ended up in the crane,” Gasly said. “I was two metres away from passing away today, which is not acceptable as a racing driver.”
What Gasly and other drivers did not understand is why the recovery vehicle was deployed before the race was red flagged. Onboard video showed the light flashing red just before Gasly came upon the crane. He said, “We were all in the pit lane a minute later [for the red flag]. Risking my life for one minute, I don’t think that is acceptable.”
Gasly recalled Jules Bianchi’s wreck at the wet 2014 Japanese Grand Prix where he collided with a crane, dying months later from his head injuries.
Norris did not mince words while tweeting, writing, “Wtf. How’s this happened!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We wanna race. But this… Unacceptable.”
Nearly a half hour later, Pérez tweeted, “How can we make it clear that we never want to see a crane on track? We lost Jules because of that mistake. What happened today is totally unacceptable!!!!! I hope this is the last time ever I see a crane on track!”
Similar comments were made during various interviews and on social media, such as Valtteri Bottas adding to his tweet about the weekend “I’m glad all the drivers survived today, alive & healthy.” George Russell also said on his recap tweet, “Finally, a tractor should never be on a circuit when race cars are… never!”
The FIA later said there would be a “thorough review” of what occurred.
“While it is normal practice to recover cars under SC and Red Flag conditions, due to the particular circumstances and also taking into account feedback from of a number of drivers, the FIA has launched a thorough review of the events involving the deployment of recovery vehicles during the Japanese Grand Prix.
“This is part of the common practice of debrief and analysis of all race incidents to ensure continual improvements of processes and procedures.”
Appendix H in the FIA’s International Sporting Code says: “No marshal or vehicle shall enter the circuit perimeter without permission from race control.”
Gasly was later dealt a 20-second penalty and two penalty points for speeding during red flag conditions, and per the stewards’ verdict, he “conceded that he now understood that there could have been marshals or obstacles on the track, and admitted that he was too fast.”
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