Getting a paddock pass is one the highest levels of access that can be attained by a Formula One fan, giving them permission to enter areas of the paddock that are otherwise out of reach for regular fans.
These passes are usually either given to guests of the drivers or high paying fans, but Pierre Gasly has now called for those with access to the paddock to respect the driver’s privacy, after his bag was found open for the second race week in a row.
“I had my bad – which I arrived at the hospitality yesterday morning with, it had my passport – opened and I didn’t even feel it,” he described.
“Clearly it wasn’t me and it wasn’t my manager. When he saw that, he closed it straight away.
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“But the same thing happened in Austin when I came out of the paddock.”
The Frenchman has said that he wishes for fans to have a better understanding of when and when not to interact with the drivers, with them starting to cross certain boundaries in this aspect as well.
“I think letting people in is fine, but it’s true that I feel like some guests sometimes are not really respecting the space that we need,” he said.
“People coming in garages before qualifying and asking for pictures when they are not even from our team.
“We are working here and obviously we give time to our fans when we can but this weekend I didn’t dare come out of the hospitality because otherwise you just know that you get mobbed and sometimes it gets quite hectic.”
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In qualifying sessions where every millisecond matters, drivers do not have time to be distracted from the task at hand to speak to fans, with plenty of time before and after sessions for these interactions.
Lando Norris has suggested that if things do not improve, then drivers will be forced to avoid fans all together in an attempt to keep themselves and their belongings safe.
“It’s easy for us to always go around the back ways and have people literally shove them out the way and so on so we don’t sign anything.”