Pierre Gasly was furious after passing a tractor at speed during the brief Safety Car period for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Safety Car was deployed after just half a lap of action at Suzuka when Carlos Sainz aquaplaned off from third on the grid coming out of Spoon Curve. The race was subsequently red flagged, but both Gasly and Sergio Perez were irate when they had a near-miss with a tractor attempting to recover Sainz's stricken Ferrari. “God – what the? – what is this tractor?” said a flustered Gasly. “What is this tractor on track? This is unacceptable! What has happened? I can’t believe this…” Perez shared his frustration: “Is it not clear that we don’t want to see ever a crane on the track?”
FIA respond in statement
After clips of the incident went around on social media, the FIA released a statement. "In relation to the recovery of the incident on Lap 3, the Safety Car had been deployed and the race neutralised," it read. "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."
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