F1 drivers furious as Pierre Gasly’s car has a near-miss with tractor on track

“We lost Jules eight years ago in similar conditions, with a crane on track in the gravel,” said the Frenchman

F1 drivers furious as Pierre Gasly’s car has a near-miss with tractor on track

Pierre Gasly

Formula One drivers reacted with fury after AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly passed a tractor on the track at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday, on the same Suzuka circuit where Jules Bianchi suffered a fatal accident in similar circumstances.

Gasly said he “would be dead right now” if he had hit the vehicle, which was deployed to recover Carlos Sainz’s car after the Spaniard crashed in heavy rain on a chaotic first lap. French driver Bianchi suffered a fatal crash at Suzuka in October 2014 when he collided with a tractor crane that was recovering a car. He underwent emergency surgery and was placed in an induced coma, but never recovered and died in July 2015. Gasly called Sunday’s incident “not acceptable”. “We lost Jules eight years ago in similar conditions, with a crane on track in the gravel,” said the Frenchman.

Also Read: Formula 1: Sainz quickest for Ferrari in second practice as more drivers incur penalties

“In any conditions, we should never see a crane on track while the cars are out there,” said Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who finished second. “You don’t know what could happen. It doesn’t matter about the conditions — it should just never happen.” Perez’s Red Bull teammate and winner Max Verstappen said.

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