Pierre Gasly won’t want to re-live Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix ever again, after the Frenchman came within metres of a potentially fatal collision.
The race started under exceptionally wet conditions, with the rain seemingly intensifying as the opening lap was completed.
Carlos Sainz crashed heavily out of third place at Turn 12 on the opening lap, after becoming a passenger when his car aquaplaned over one of the many rivers than ran across the Suzuka International Racing Course.
The resulting impact with the barrier on the outside of Turn 12 was a particularly heavy one, which resulted in advertising boarding falling into the circuit, which was thrown onto it after Sainz’s F1-75 bounced onto the edge of the circuit following the impact with the wall.
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Whilst some drivers ran over the boarding, Gasly was unfortunate enough to hit it, which broke his front-wing as a result.
Gasly pitted due to the damage, which dropped the Frenchman well behind the pack.
The race was shortly red flagged during the second lap, with conditions having worsened considerably.
During the lengthy red flag interval, Gasly, unknowingly at the time, was seen to be absolutely furious whilst walking through his garage; however, it was soon discovered why he was behaving in such a way.
During the red flag interval, footage emerged initially on social media that showed Gasly almost hitting a recovery vehicle moments before the red flag was flown.
In what was a terrifying near-miss to watch, the tractor is seemingly not seen by Gasly until the last moment, due to the lack of visibility.
Radio footage was soon heard, where the AlphaTauri driver was clearly in disbelief by what so nearly happened.
“God! What the?! What is this tractor?!” Gasly said on the team radio, whilst clearly, and understandably, being shaken up.
“I passed next to it… This is unacceptable. What just happened? I can’t believe this.”
The incident brought back horrific memories of the 2014 Japanese GP, which also took place in miserable conditions.
On that day, Jules Bianchi tragically crashed underneath a recovery vehicle.
The highly regarded driver unfortunately succumbed to his injuries in 2015 and died.
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After the race, Gasly was understandably vocal in insisting that the FIA hadn’t learned from Bianchi’s death, in what was a tone shared by the entire paddock.
Somewhat disgustingly, Gasly was actually summoned by the stewards after the race, where he was awarded with a 20-second time penalty and two penalty points, for speeding when the red flag was flown.
Gasly explained after the race that he was metres away from “death”, with changes clearly being needed to be made by the FIA, immediately.