The grieving father of Jules Bianchi has exploded after a recovery tractor put Pierre Gasly in a terrifying situation during Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Formula 1 was nearly rocked by a repeat of Bianchi’s death following the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix — the result of the Frenchman hitting a recovery tractor and sustaining head injuries.
As Gasly tried to catch up to the field after pitting during a safety-car period on lap three, the Frenchman zipped past a tractor that had been sent onto the track to recover Carlos Sainz’s crashed Ferrari.
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Extremely poor visibility prevented Gasly from spotting the tractor, leaving the AlphaTauri driver seething when he realised he’d missed the service vehicle narrowly.
The race was eventually red-flagged and, in another intriguing twist, Gasly was slapped with a 20-second penalty and two penalty points for speeding under the red flag.
“No respect for the life of the driver, no respect for Jules’ memory. Incredible,” Jules’ father, Philippe, wrote on Instagram.
“God, what is this tractor?!” Gasly had shouted over team radio.
“What is this tractor on track? I passed next to it … this is unacceptable. Remember what happened?! I can’t believe this. I could have f—ing killed myself.”
Gasly had more to say on Twitter following the Japanese Grand Prix.
“Glad to go home safe tonight,” the 26-year-old wrote.
“For the respect of Jules, all his family and for our safety and the one of the marshals, there should never be any tractor nor marshals on track in such conditions with such poor visibility. Period.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner branded the controversy “totally unacceptable”.
“We lost Jules Bianchi here and that should never, ever happen,” Horner told Sky Sports.
“There needs to be a full investigation into why there was a recovery vehicle on the circuit in those horrendous conditions where visibility is zero.
“Extremely dangerous.”
Taking to Twitter during the red-flag period, Lando Norris blasted the decision to send the tractor out.
“How’s this happened?!” Norris wrote.
“We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We wanna race. But this … unacceptable.”
George Russell was also left fuming.
“It’s not the Pierre Gasly incident; it’s the incident of the FIA bringing the tractor on the track,” the Mercedes driver said.
“It’s totally unacceptable in any condition or circumstances.”
Sergio Perez labelled it “the lowest point we’ve seen in the sport for years”.
“What happened today just makes me so angry,” the Red Bull driver added.
“I just hope in the sport we never get to see this situation ever again.
“We saw what happened here a few years ago with our friend Jules, and absolutely, I don’t care about what was the reason for that.
“It should never happen again — ever — in any category.”
Madness as post-race penalty seals Max’s title
The FIA, which launched an investigation into the deployment of the service vehicle, explained its thinking in a statement.
“In relation to the recovery of the incident on lap three, the safety car had been deployed and the race neutralised,” the statement read.
“Car 10 (Gasly’s), which had collected damage and pitted behind the safety car, was then driving at high speed to catch up to the field.
“As conditions were deteriorating, the red flag was shown before car 10 passed the location of the incident where it had been damaged the previous lap.”
Gasly finished the race in 18th, beating only the retired Sainz and Alex Albon.
Max Verstappen scored a dominant win and sealed his second world championship, after Charles Leclerc was demoted to third for breaching track limits on the final chicane.
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