FIA blunder: 'Haven't learnt from past lessons'

Martin Brundle cannot get over the fact that a recovery vehicle came onto the Suzuka Circuit when drivers were still driving on the wet track. The former F1 driver expresses his dissatisfaction to Sky Sports.

After Carlos Sainz's crash, a recovery vehicle immediately entered the track, creating dangerous situations. Although there was a safety car situation, F1 cars were still scattered around the track and at different speeds. The rain also made it difficult for drivers to see. Gasly got the scare of his life when he saw the vehicle go past him and Brundle understands very well why.

Chaos at Suzuka

''I was horrified because I had an incident there in 1994. I had been crying for the race to be red-flagged because the conditions were horrific. I aquaplaned off in a place that I couldn't see where I was going. Couldn't see my own dashboard. I just missed one of those Cat diggers but hit a marshal. I ran back to help him and the bone of his leg was sticking out of his overalls. It was a horrible mess. I also said in 1998 in commentary, we can't have vehicles on track when race cars are on track in wet conditions, you can aquaplane or have a car issue. It should never happen,'' said Brundle.

You would say Formula 1 must have learnt from the past because in 2014 Jules Bianchi died due to a similar incident. He also skidded off the track in the rain and hit a crane that was in the process of recovering another car.

Fault of the FIA

''It should've been an instant red flag, in my opinion, because of the conditions. Everyone was out on inters, the race director can command everyone must be on full wets, I think he should say we will start on extreme wet tyres so teams are not driven down the competitive result and hoping to get away with it. Those conditions weren't right for inters, extreme wets would've probably been okay. Lessons hadn't been learned, that had to be a red flag with a car in a critical position at high speed in those conditions. No alternative. Not even a question of collecting the cars in the safety car snake,'' Brundle concluded.

Brundle is certainly not the only one who has expressed his dissatisfaction with the FIA's conduct. Pierre Gasly was furious after the race, Lando Norris and Sergio Perez supported their colleague and several team bosses were also upset that the FIA allowed this to happen. The FIA has now launched an investigation to prevent this from happening in the future.