His anger at the incident was echoed across the grid as almost every driver condemned the decision to use the vehicle on track. While the rules around the use of such vehicles has been changed since, once more cars were driving in heavy rain and limited visibility at Suzuka when a crane was deployed on track and it prompted a furious reaction. AlphaTauri’s Gasly was catching up with the field behind the safety car at 200km/h when he passed the recovery vehicle on the racing line. “We lost Jules eight years ago in similar conditions, with a crane on track,” he said. Other drivers were equally angry they had not been warned the recovery vehicle was on the track as they circulated behind the safety car before the race was stopped. “We lost Jules Bianchi here and that [a recovery vehicle] should never ever happen so there needs to be a full investigation.

Follow MotorMouth on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•