'Could have killed myself': F1 star furious after scary near-miss

Photo / Supplied

Formula One driver Pierre Gasly has let rip over team radio after he had a near-miss with a tractor at the Japanese Grand Prix that was inexplicably on the left hand side of the track just as the race was being red flagged.

He started in the pit lane and the recovery vehicle should have waited for the entire field to come behind the Safety Car before entering the track to attend to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.

Watching Gasly drive past a tractor on track, in these conditions, at this track, is unbelievable #F1 #JapaneseGP

— Bec Clancy (@becclancy) October 9, 2022

Gasly fumed: “What is this? What is this tractor on track?! I passed next to it. This unacceptable. Remember what has happened. Can’t believe this.”

“I could have f****** killed myself.”

F1 journalist Hazel Southwell tweeted: “This is so unacceptable. Not tractors in gravel traps, they were on the racing line, on the track, barely lights on – we know the stakes, here of all places. Deserves an investigation. this just can’t ever happen.”

Reporter Chris Medland said: “How that was allowed to happen at this track of all places is just absolutely ridiculous. Gasly was always going to be trying to catch back up with the pack before it was red-flagged.”

It was an unacceptable error in the wet weather and poor visibility, especially considering Jules Bianchi died at the Japanese Grand Prix when he collided with a recovery vehicle in similar conditions.

This is INCREDIBLY scary!! How the f*** can this happen after 2014?? #JapaneseGP #Gasly #f1 pic.twitter.com/wHA7Wg3hdZ

— Silja Rulle (@SiljaRulle) October 9, 2022

The FIA had this to say in response to Gasly’s near miss.

“In relation to the recovery of the incident on Lap 3, the Safety Car had been deployed and the race neutralised,” F1’s governing body said in a statement.

“Car 10 (Gasly), 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.”

It’s emerged the tractor was in fact already out on the track when race leader Max Verstappen was behind the Safety Car on his way back to the pits.

F1 commentators couldn’t believe why the recovery vehicle came out on to the circuit so early and unnecessarily put the drivers in danger.

Just watched onboards with Gasly. Right to be furious. Recovery vehicle bang on the racing line in zero visibility. Unforgivable.

— Will Buxton (@wbuxtonofficial) October 9, 2022

“We don’t want to see any vehicles on the track in conditions like this when Formula 1 cars are out on track too,” Sky Sports’ David Croft said.

Ted Kravitz said the incident had “shades of that fateful race in 2014 with Jules Bianchi”.

“No doubt all the drivers are going to want some serious discussions to be going on given what happened to Jules Bianchi here, as to how that was allowed to happen,” he said.

Bianchi’s father posted on Instagram: “No respect for the life of the driver no respect for Jules memory.”

“No respect for the life of the driver no respect for Jules memory”.

Lando Norris was filthy at the incident, referencing Bianchi’s death in 2015 months after his collision.

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.

— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) October 9, 2022

Earlier it was a disaster start for Sainz, who crashed into the wall, ending his race early on lap one.

Alex Albon is also out of the race after his Williams failed to get out of gear.

The race was set to restart before more rain delayed the race once again.

– NZ Herald