Using Cranes On Wet Tracks Is "never Safe" Even In A Safety Car.

Formula 1 should not deploy recovery vehicles such as cranes in wet conditions, even during safety car periods, says Zhou Guanyu.

Alfa Romeo drivers have expressed their concerns to the FIA about the use of vehicles by Formula 1 drivers following the Japanese Grand Prix. Many were angered by the use of the crane in very wet conditions at Suzuka in response to Carlos Sainz Jr’s crash on the first lap of the race.

Despite the low visibility, drivers were not warned about the recovery car sitting on the outside of the fast corner. Pierre Gasly reacted nervously as the safety car rejoined the queue and overtook the recovery car at around 200km/h.

The decision to deploy a recovery vehicle in wet conditions In 2014, Jules Bianchi suffered a serious head injury similar to the one he suffered in a similar accident at the same circuit, when he hit a crane and was ultimately fatal.

Gasly, Sergio Perez and Lando Norris were among the drivers who spoke out about their handling of the situation. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called for an investigation into the incident, while McLaren team principal Andreas Seid said “something like this simply shouldn’t happen”.

Alfa Romeo driver Zhou, who was asked by race fans ahead of the United States Grand Prix what drivers can do to prevent such a situation from happening again, said the FIA is listening to drivers’ concerns.

“Every driver has an important voice in the sport,” Zhou said. “We’re only 20 – it’s not like the NBA where you have 1,000 players. So the FIA and Formula 1 are really taking it. [notice of] What we say.

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“We had a very long conversation after the race. It’s certainly not the right way to look at it, especially after what happened with Jules in the same circuit a few years ago.

“Visibility was very low for us, almost as low as a racing car. Even when the car was outside, when I went through the safety car scenario, I didn’t see it until I was two meters away. So it’s very dangerous for us. When you’re standing in the aquaplaning area, nobody’s on the bike. I was happy it didn’t crash.

Zhou believes there is not a safe enough way for recovery vehicles to get off the road in wet conditions like Suzuka, where visibility is so poor.

“In general, it is not safe to have this tractor vehicle on the track even when we are in the safety car,” argued Zhou. “Especially in wet conditions, you can never judge if you go fishing with our car, it’s very sensitive.

“Especially with the water, anything can happen, especially on tracks like Japan, where there are many corners where you can go flat. [out] But then with steering lock that creates an unbalanced car.

“So generally we don’t want to see any vehicles there. Especially if the competition is going on [to a] Better watch out for the red flags.

The FIA has investigated the incident and is set to make their findings public in the coming days, citing “procedural issues”. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said he believed the governing body understood the drivers’ concerns.

“I think we’ve all made that point very clear with the FIA, we don’t want to see that,” Leclerc said. In the year In 2014, we obviously lost Jules to the same accident and we were very clear with the FIA that we didn’t want that and I think they understood.

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