Gasly also to blame for recovery vehicle saga

Pierre Gasly has some of the blame for a highly dangerous situation that occurred during the Japanese GP.

The Frenchman, and many of his fellow Formula 1 drivers, was livid with the FIA after a heavy vehicle entered the Suzuka circuit to recover Carlos Sainz’s crashed Ferrari even though cars were still circulating at speed.

"If I was two meters to the left, I would have been dead," Gasly said.

However, some immediately pointed the finger at the Alpha Tauri driver himself.

"What’s Gasly doing?" veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit said. "Driving at 250kph in a red flag."

Indeed, even F1’s governing body penalised Gasly, who the Suzuka stewards said "admitted he was too fast".

"I can understand the criticism from the drivers," said former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, referring to the fury about the presence on the circuit of a recovery vehicle.

"But it does not justify Gasly chasing the pack at 250kph at that time. It was anything but smart. I think both sides need to question themselves."

However, the late Jules Bianchi’s father Philippe lashed out at the FIA for suggesting that Gasly had driven too fast past the recovery vehicle.

"That’s laughable," Philippe, whose son died after crashing into a similar vehicle at Suzuka in 2014, told RMC. "It’s what they would have said to Jules as well.

"I say to myself ’Where is the respect for Jules?’ They’re not cannon fodder. Nothing justifies giving the order."