F1 driver hit twice by Safety Car, was 'denied treatmeant unless he paid'

21:00, 30 Dec

Updated: 21:46, 30 Dec

byNorberto Mujica

An F1 driver was hit twice by the Safety Car, and he claims to have been denied timely transportation the hospital to avoid stopping the race and medical treatment was rejected until payment had been made.

"I expect the helicopter to take me to hospital, but Charlie [Whiting, F1 race director at the time] comes in and says, 'Sorry Taki, we can't use the helicopter, otherwise we stop the GP. You wait until the finish, another hour."

- Taki Inoue.

Taki Inoue during the 2018 British Grand Prix weekend. Photo: RacePictures.

After a single outing for Simtek in 1994, Taki Inoue was able to benefit from the British Footwork Arrows team's financial hardships to buy himself a seat for the 1995 F1 season. In an interview on Top Gear, he admitted that he was indeed a pay driver, likening his situation to that of Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso's.

"Every single driver is a sort of pay driver," he said on the British show. "[Michael] Schumacher, [Fernando] Alonso. Yes, Alonso gets a driving fee, but how much [did] Santander pay to Ferrari? What I did was the same. The only difference is that I was not good enough to drive in F1."

Inoue hit by safety car twice

Inoue's passage through Formula 1 will not be remembered by the poles, wins, titles or even points, of which he never actually scored a single one. Instead he'll be known as the driver who got hit by the safety car twice on the same season.

During the Monaco 1995 F1 Grand Prix, following a mechanical failure, Inoue was being taken back to the pits, when he was blasted by the Safety Car, causing his F1 car to flip over. A near-miss: after taking his helmet off following his reliability issue, he decided to put it back on. The right decision. After the accident the protective head gear was severely damaged.

In Hungary, Inoue's engine gave out. After parking the car on the side of the road, he ran to get a fire extinguisher. However, he did not look both ways before entering the live track and was collected in a forceful impact by the Safety car.

"Bang! Someone hits me very hard," Inoue recalled. "But I landed on my feet, very good, perfect landing – I think nine-point-nine-nine."

'They wanted to be paid first, otherwise they won't help me'

He then claimed he was denied a chopper flight back to the hospital by late Race Director Charlie Whiting to avoid stopping the race, and his medical treatment was withheld, too, unless he paid first.

"I expect the helicopter to take me to hospital, but Charlie [Whiting, F1 race director at the time] comes in and says, 'Sorry Taki, we can't use the helicopter, otherwise we stop the GP. You wait until the finish, another hour," Inoue continued.

"[After arriving at the hospital] I expect immediately they are checking out my bone, that everything is okay. But they say, 'Taki, we want your credit card.' I say, 'What? Credit card? I don't have it!' I am still in my race suit!

"But they want to be paid first, otherwise they won't help me. I say, 'Come on, I'm very painful.' Another half an hour, big negotiation. I didn't pay. For two years, they keep sending invoice to me in Monaco," the Japanese concluded.

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