Drivers defy death in Japan

In the land of the Samurai, the bold and the brave find themselves haunted by the past.

The shambles that was the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday might well have ended with the death of another French driver.

It was on the eighth anniversary of Jules Bianchi’s crash at the same track at Suzuka that the same haunting circumstances unfolded.

Bianchi was to die nine months later, never regaining consciousness from the injuries he suffered when his car ran into a tractor trying to remove another car from the circuit.

On Sunday, fellow French driver Pierre Gasly found himself passing a tractor that he had not seen because of blinding rain.

Gasly was trying to catch up to the field after starting from the pit lane and didn’t see the tractor and its crane until he was already passing at high speed.

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He was shocked, very scared and screaming at his pit crew after the race was red flagged.

It seemed nothing had been learnt from the Bianchi accident in spite of the FIA pledging that such a situation would never be repeated.

Simply put, the tractor should never have been allowed on the track open Sunday, just as the tractor in Bianchi’s case should never have been on the circuit.

But the pledge broke down in reality. Recovery vehicles and marshals are permitted on the circuit to remove a crashed car or debris in the interests of restarting the race as quickly as possible.

But not when torrential rain has left rivers of water flowing across the track and blinding spray hanging behind cars as drivers find themselves lucky to see a car’s length in front of them.

Basically, they are blind in an impenetrable deluge.

Motor racing is dangerous, as it says on the ticket, but it should not be deliberately dangerous, which was the case at Suzuka on Sunday.

Incredibly, it is Gasly, who is to join another French driver in Esteban Ocon at Alpine next season, who has has been penalised.

This decision by the stewards and presumably the race director has caused such a storm of abuse and incredulity that the FIA has promised a review.

The basis for the decision to punish AlphaTauri drivers Gasly was based on the race being red flagged and the field slowed to a crawl back to the pits.

But, the red flag came into effect less than a second before Gasly passed the tracto, which he could not see until he was alongside it.

Double yellow flags were being waved, but Gasly couldn’t see them either.

The Frenchman was driving at speeds of up to 250kph as he tried to catch the field but even at 50kph, he wouldn’t have seen the tractor sitting at the side of the circuit.

The decision to red flag the race was the correct one. The decision to allow the tractor onto the circuit could have been a fatal one.

Further to what could have been a fatality was the announcement at the end of the race that Max Verstappen, who won by nearly half a minute, was the world champion.

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Verstappen and everyone else thought he had failed to clinch the title by a single point and the championship would not be decided until what is appropriately called the “circus” moved to the United States in a fortnight.

Grand Prix commenter and former GP winner Johnny Herbert had been interviewing Verstappen driver when suddenly called him back and said he had been told Verstappen was also world champion.

The Japanese Grand Prix had already ended in confusion. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, had finished third behind second placegetter Charles Leclerc.

But the Ferrari driver had locked up going into the last corner and was penalised five seconds for having gained “an unfair advantage,”

which put Perez in second place.

How this could have been an advantage when Leclerc he had remained in second place is a fair question.

However, the decision meant Verstappen was still a point shy of making it mathematically  impossible for Leclerc to gain enough points to pass him in the remaining races.

None of that mattered after a clause was found to say full points could be awarded if the rain-shortened race was resumed after being red-flagged and not awarded as half points because the race had not been over the prescribed distance.

Would the champagne be flowing in celebration of Verstappen adding this year’s world championship to last year’s controversial victory?

Australian race director Michael Masi ordered lapped cars between Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen to get out of the way in the last race at Abu Dhabi.

This allowed Verstappen to overtake Hamilton on fresh tyres and prevent the Mercedes driver from winning an eighth world championship.

There is also another interpretation of the rules and regulations concerning last year and this year to be chased down a financial rabbit hole.

The FIA has imposed cap of $145 million on the money each team is allowed to spend over a season.

This is supposedly to ensure a level playing field between the top teams such as Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes and the rest of the grid.

Mercedes believes Red Bull may have exceeded the cap and should be penalised to the extent of having last year’s world championship taken away from them and perhaps this year’s as well.

As it stands, the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka on Sunday was won by Max Verstappen, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez second and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third.

Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was in the Ferrari that caused what could have been a catastrophe when he aquaplaned into the barriers on the first lap and the tractor lumbered onto the circuit.

What of Daniel Ricciardo who has lost his seat with McLaren next season and admits he will be sitting out the year?

The Honey Badger was sitting in second place at Suzuka before he was left out on the circuit while others changed tyres.

Another miserable weekend saw him finish 11th and once again behind his teammate in Lando Norris in 10th.