The shocking video shows the near disaster in Suzuka

In Formula 1, there was a moment of shock at the Japanese Grand Prix. After the Suzuka race was stopped due to heavy rain, Pierre Gasly narrowly missed a recovery vehicle. A video is circulating on the internet showing how dangerous the situation was, not just for the AlphaTauri driver.

After the Japanese Grand Prix, the debate on driver safety has returned to Formula 1. After all, the Suzuka race almost resulted in a serious accident.

On lap one, Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari landed close to the track on a wet track. The race was then stopped with the red flag due to heavy rain.

Pierre Gasly had just exited the pit lane after damaging his front wing when he passed a high-speed tractor that was trying to take Sainz’s Ferrari away. “What the hell? What’s that?” Gasly raged on the radio: “What’s that tractor doing on the track? It’s unacceptable! I can’t believe it!”

The Frenchman’s on-board camera showed the driver of the AlphaTauri as he passed the tractor in poor visibility conditions. F1 reporter Matt Gallagher has now shared a video on Twitter showing how close the situation was, not just for Gasly himself.

At that moment there was also a marshal on the track who wanted to tow the Ferrari away when Gasly passed fast at high speed. It was only with great luck that a catastrophe did not occur. Since then, the recording has been viewed more than 5.6 million times.

Bad memories of Bianchi’s accident

The accident brought back bad memories of Jules Bianchi’s 2014 accident with a tow truck in Suzuka and he died as a result in 2015.

Lando Norris was highly critical of the Gasly incident. “What the hell. How did it happen? We lost a life in this situation years ago. We risk our lives, especially in these conditions. We want to race. But it’s unacceptable,” the McLaren driver wrote on Twitter.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “This is totally unacceptable. We lost Jules Bianchi here and it should never, ever happen. A full investigation needs to be conducted as to why a tow truck was on track. And obviously it is with these extremely dangerous in horrendous conditions where visibility is zero “.

Formula 1: Gasly fined for accident

Gasly himself was penalized by the FIA ​​for the accident with a penalty of 20 seconds including two penalty points.

“After that [Gasly] past the crash site, it reached speeds of over 200 km / h at several points and even 251 km / h at one point under the red flags. The driver realized that there could be marshals or obstacles on the track and admitted that he was going too fast, “the FIA ​​said in its verdict.

He continues: “However, to mitigate the penalty, we take into account that while the speed could not be considered ‘slow’ under the regulations, it was lower than the maximum speed that can be reached in these conditions. We also take into account the shock experienced by the pilot. when he saw a truck on the racing line on the crash curve. “