Gasly Inches From Death

Context goes back to 2014

During the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix Formula 1 experienced its most recent death, French Driver Jules Bianchi lost the control of his car during a safety car procedure and he crashed into a crane, his car went below it and he was transported to the hospital by helicopter where he was pro
nounced death moments after arrival.

This crash was a turning point in Formula 1 Safety, the rules were completely changed for the better and engineering was taken more seriously and new technology like the halo was invented, which has saved countless lives since its implementation.

What happened this weekend?

Last weekend Formula 1 returned to Japan after a 3 year absence due to covid, and we almost witness the same catastrophe at the exact same track, only 8 years later. The race began during extreme rain, driver visibility was extremely bad which led to a few crashed. After the FIA realized the danger of the situation they decided to suspend the race with a Red Flag (During a Red Flag all cars must return to the garage to allow time to recover crashed cars, the race time stops.)

During the return of the cars to the pits, Alpha Tauri Driver Pierre Gasly, who was 1 minute behind everyone due to an incident of his own, almost collides with a tractor that was mistakenly sent to track ahead of time. Gasly was going next to the crash with minimal visibility at 280 Km/hr, all of the sudden we drove past the side of the tractor which would’ve been instant death if he had collided, he instantly started shouting profanities and the TV broadcast moved away from him. (See picture, tractor on the right)

“I was two metres away from passing away today, which is not acceptable as a racing driver”

The FIA and Suzuka staff crew received immediate backlash due to the incident, and they quickly posted a statement where they placed the blame on Pierre Gasly for going to quickly, the even gave him a 20 second penalty which created even more backlash towards the FIA and the stewards (referees).

Racing during rain = Dangerous visibility

Drivers & Personalities Opinions

Many drivers and personalities quickly called out the FIA and Safety staff for the incident, some of them even doing it during the race, which they often avoid to keep their focus.

McLaren Driver Lando Norris was the first one to speak on the matter via twitter “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.”

RedBull Driver Checo Perez followed with “How can we make it clear that we never want to see a crane on track? We lost Jules because of that mistake. What happened today is totally unacceptable!!!!! I hope this is the last time ever I see a crane on track!”

Even Jules Bianchi’s father commented on the matter “No respect for the life of the driver no respect for Jules memory”

My Opinion

In my opinion this has been one of the worst pm if not the worst decision by the FIA in many years, it is unforgivable to send a massive tractor into the track when there are still cars on it, we were extremely lucky we did not witness a death on Japan yet again…and the fact that FIA not only didn’t take accountability but even blamed Gasly is a really bad image for them on driver safety and public image.