By Chris Medland - Oct 9, 2022, 2:53 AM ET

Gasly rages after passing crane on track at Suzuka

Pierre Gasly was left raging after passing a recovery vehicle on track as the Japanese Grand Prix was being red flagged.

The Frenchman had picked up damage by hitting a sponsor boarding that had flown onto the track when Carlos Sainz crashed on the run to Spoon.

That happened on the opening lap, and required Gasly to make a pit stop for a new front wing while the Safety Car was deployed. As he was trying to catch up with the Safety Car train on full wet tires, Gasly passed a recovery vehicle in poor visibility, just as the red flag was shown.

“God, what the… what the… What is this?” Gasly said over team radio. “What is this tractor on track?! I passed next to it. This unacceptable. Remember what has happened. Can't believe this.”

It was at Suzuka in 2014 that Jules Bianchi crashed into the back of a recovery vehicle in similar conditions under double waved yellow flags, ultimately losing his life nine months later after never regaining consciousness.

The incident led to Gasly being summoned for driving too quickly after passing the scene of the accident, under red flag conditions.

Topics

japanese gp

pierre gasly

Formula 1

Chris Medland

While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.

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