Despite the fact that the FIA announced on Sunday night in Japan that they would carry out a “thorough investigation” into what happened to the crane that went onto the track to remove Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari in the Formula 1 race at Suzuka, the drivers of The highest category of motorsport expressed their discomfort with the situation, remembering, above all, the incident that cost Jules Bianchi his life in that same place in 2014.
Pierre Gasly was the one who ended what happened the most angrily, even stating that if he had lost control of his AlphaTauri, he could “have died” when he collided with the vehicle that was removing the Spanish F1-75. Fortunately, the Frenchman was able to continue in the race and did not regret any physical damage, although the stewards imposed a 20-second penalty and 2 points on the super license for not respecting the red flag regime.
About the action in which a repetition of the fateful October 5 eight seasons ago could be experienced, they asked the drivers on the grid, who assured that they were talking on WhatsApp when the action was stopped in Suzuka.
“Yes, I saw a lot of messages they sent,” explained Daniel Ricciardo when they put him on the table if he had been in contact with the rest of the drivers. “It was when he taught me, I think from Gasly’s onboard, so yeah [we talked].”
In addition to the Australian from McLaren, one of the heads of the GPDA [the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association], George Russell, commented that they had talks at the Japanese GP about the crane in the middle of the circuit.
“I think we talked about it a little bit in the driver briefing this week, because there was an extraction vehicle on the track in Singapore with the Tsunoda crash during a safety car, and it was at the time that people were doing the switch to dry tyres,” said the Brit from Mercedes.
“We’ve already expressed our opinion that we don’t want that to ever happen. That was last week, and coming here a week later, with the circumstances and the history [in reference to Bianchi’s accident], it’s quite disappointing,” he said. English.
However, others did not look at the mobile, such as Sebastian Vettel, who admitted not seeing it during the races, although some like Lando Norris expressed their concern publicly on social networks when the red flag was displayed.
“What the f***. How did this happen!? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in conditions like this. We want to run. But this is… Unacceptable,” the young McLaren driver wrote on Twitter.
In contrast to those who used their phones, the veterans, spoke about the crane in the middle of the asphalt, like Sergio Pérez: “Today the lowest point in the sport that we have seen in years. What happened today makes me very angry, just I hope we will never see this situation again because it is putting all the drivers in danger.”
“We already saw what happened a few years ago here with our friend Jules [Bianchi]. I don’t care why it happened, but it should never happen again, in any category,” the Red Bull Mexican insisted.
For his part, the seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, preferred not to comment on the matter, thus waiting for a resolution from the FIA to improve the extraction vehicle procedure: “I have no opinion on the matter.”
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