Sebastian Vettel raised the issue of recovery vehicles entering a circuit while Formula 1 cars are still on track just a few days before Pierre Gasly was left shaken after a close call at the Japanese Grand Prix.
That's according to Alex Albon, who was reacting to the incident which happened at Suzuka on Sunday. The tractor came onto the track shortly before the race was red-flagged after the first lap, to remove the wreckage of Carlos Sainz's stricken Ferrari.
Gasly was driving faster than the other drivers as he tried to catch up to the rest of the pack behind the safety car. And in poor visibility from the heavy rain and lots of spray thrown up in the air, he could barely see the recovery vehicle which he came within just a couple of metres of as he flew past.
The Frenchman was furious and yelled over team radio: "I could have f***ing killed myself." The incident had also hit particularly close to home considering his childhood friend Jules Bianchi died as a result of injuries sustained in an F1 crash with a recovery vehicle at the very same track in 2014.
Reacting to the incident, Albon revealed the possibility of such a thing happening was raised just a few days earlier by Vettel at a meeting. "We already talked about it because it already kind of happened in Singapore actually," said the British-Thai racer.
"I’m not sure but I think Seb raised it up in the drivers' briefing earlier this week – I don't know if it's happened again. We know what happened, we don't want to talk about [a] few years ago, but we are in a position where it is really dangerous, and I think people don't realise that. The FIA I'm sure are going to be on such discussions going into the next race. About why that recovery crane was on the circuit."
Reacting to the close call himself, Gasly appeared visibly shaken and admitted he was glad to be unharmed and able to go home to his family in one piece. "How? How today can we see a crane, not even in the gravel but on the race track, while we are still on the track... I don't understand that," said the Frenchman.
"Obviously I felt scared – if I had lost the car in a similar way as Carlos the lap before, it doesn't matter the speed, I would have just died. It's as simple as that. It's disrespectful to Jules and to his family. We are risking our lives out there and doing the best job in the world, but what we are asking is to keep us safe, it's already dangerous enough.
"I'm just extremely grateful that I'm here and tonight I can go home to all my family and my loved ones, and that the outcome is the way that it is. I passed two metres from that crane – if I had been two metres to the left, I would have been dead."
