I'm disappointed that we're still having to discuss incidents like this but the conversation HAS to be had. What happened in the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix is completely unacceptable, as was the way it was handled by the FIA. Have we learnt nothing from 2014/15 when F1 lost one of their own bright, young stars? Apparently not.
As much as it hurts, let's skip back to that awful October day on which the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was being held.
That year's race was held under "intermittent heavy rainfall" caused by an approaching typhoon. Also daylight was receding, nightfall was coming. Lap 43 and the safety car was out while Adrian Sutil's Sauber was being recovered. Marussia driver Jules Bianchi lost control of his car on this lap colliding with the tractor/crane that was recovering the Sauber. At the time not much was known about what happened to Bianchi or the condition the Frenchman was in. Subsequently the race was suspended. Reports soon followed that Bianchi was unconscious and had been transported to hospital with a critical head injury. In November 2014, he was taken out of his artificial coma and transported to a hospital in Nice where he would succumb to his injuries on 17th July 2015.
Almost immediately following the 2014 incident, the FIA made changes to the safety aspect of Formula One to ensure there would be no repeat of what happened to Jules. A month later at the US Grand Prix the successful Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was trialed and new regulations for the following year would mean the cars would have to be designed differently than what they had been for 2014. This also led to the mandatory introduction of the halo in 2018 that has since saved countless lives in the world of motorsport. And, not to forget the most important aspect in regards to Bianchi's accident in particular, the way stricken cars are recovered. Usually, "race control will permit the use of recovery vehicles once the field has been safely bunched together behind the Safety Car at neutralized speed." This is the legacy Jules has had on not just Formula One but all motorsport alike. However, unfortunately, today's events in the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix disrespected that.
So, what exactly happened in 2022 to cause such a fuss?
The 2022 Japanese GP was very wet and very dark. Eerily similar to that of 2014. Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari in the second sector on the first lap resulting in the deployment of the safety car. Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly struck some advertising that had made it's way onto the track as a result of Sainz's accident. Gasly had to pit, shuffling him to the back of the field. As the drivers, behind the safety car, re-approached Sainz's stricken Ferrari, a large recovery vehicle had made it's way onto the track. Gasly who had yet to catch up with the rest of the pack narrowly avoided a collision with the tractor and made his anger clear about the tractor's appearance over team radio. Then, due to the now heavier rain, the race was red flagged.
Gasly was not the only driver to vent his anger over the incident with a number of other drivers coming onto the team radio. See their messages below:
Sergio Perez: “Is it not clear that we don’t want to see ever a crane on the track?”
Pierre Gasly: “God – what the? – what is this tractor? What is this tractor on track? I passed next to it, like… This is unacceptable! What has happened? I can’t believe this…”
Sebastian Vettel: "Next time, they should inform us if there’s a fricking tractor on the road”
Nicholas Latifi: “It’s (the tractor) not great in these conditions. Very silly, actually.”
Some drivers also took to social media. McLaren's Lando Norris tweeted:
"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." - @landonorris
It's easy to say that everyone is over reacting and that we get recovery vehicles on track all of the time but the issue here is the conditions and timing in which the recovery vehicle was deployed. As mentioned above, the FIA will deploy any recovery vehicle once the safety car has bunched the field together. That's fair enough. The pack is bunched and their speed is low. That's what a safety car is for. But during this safety car period the field wasn't closed in, it was dark and very wet, the tractor was barely visible through all of the spray and there were marshals on the track. And yes, Gasly was going faster than the other cars but he was still below the delta time. There are so many factors which contribute as to why this event was unacceptable. If we remember, Jules' accident was preventable. We were lucky nothing happened here.
So what can be done differently? We can't expect the sessions to be red flagged every time a car needs recovering, can we? It's not viable. However, in wet conditions (even if just a sprinkle) this needs to be the case. We cannot take the risk of a car potentially aquaplaning, even if they are behind the safety car, because it is possible, as we saw with Jules. Or, here's an idea, replace recovery vehicles with cranes where possible. Not only will this all but abolish the risk of drivers loosing control and hitting the recovery vehicles, but it would potentially also speed up the time needed behind the safety car during a recovery. And, why does the race director have zero communication with the drivers during a race? For example, in Formula E, the race director can personally speak to all drivers at once warning them of safety cars, obstructions on track and full course yellows. Supposedly, it can be difficult to establish the right course of action but something different HAS to be done.
So there we have it. Sunday 9th October 2022 brought back a lot of sad memories for drivers, teams, fans alike but it also opened our eyes. Safety in F1 is forever evolving but still, at times, it's just not good enough. Jules' death was not in vain. He has saved many a driver thanks to the advancements in safety. Hopefully the FIA and Formula One can learn from this. But we've said this before, haven't we?
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