Philippe Bianchi has hit out at the FIA after watching Pierre Gasly almost involved in a similar incident to one which killed his son Jules at the Japanese Grand Prix eight years ago.
Jules Bianchi's Marussia crashed into a recovery vehicle at Suzuka in 2014, causing very serious injuries for the driver. Sadly, he died nine months later as a result – he remains the last Formula 1 driver to die in a crash.
That's what made it so scary when, as the latest edition of the Japanese GP was red flagged in the wet weather, Gasly flew past a recovery vehicle which had already made its way onto the track before all the cars had safely passed by.
Gasly was furious over team radio. "God! What the?! What is this tractor?! What is this tractor on track? I passed next to it, This is unacceptable! What has happened? Can't believe this... I could have f***ing killed myself," the Frenchman yelled.
Bianchi, clearly furious about the incident which would have stirred up horrible memories of the tragedy that killed his son, took to social media to vent his frustration. "No respect for the life of the driver, no respect for Jules' memory – incredible," he wrote on Instagram.
Explaining the incident, the FIA said in a statement: "In relation to the recovery of the incident on Lap 3, the Safety Car had been deployed and the race neutralised. Car 10, 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." But that statement did not explain why the recovery vehicle had been allowed to enter the track before the red flags were waved.
Some of Gasly's fellow F1 drivers were clearly unhappy about the incident. Lando Norris wrote on social media: "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."
Carlos Sainz told Sky Sports: ""I still don't know why in these conditions we keep risking having a tractor on-track, because it's just worthless. If you're going to red flag it anyway, why risk it?" Alex Albon added: "There will be discussions at the next race [Austin] as to why that recovery vehicle was allowed on track."
And Alexander Wurz, president of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, wrote: "I think we need to discuss a tractor on track..... we can keep it short: this must NOT happen guys."
