2022 F1 Champion Max Verstappen was forced to go off-track to avoid tractor

Onboard footage from Max Verstappen’s car shows the 2022 F1 Champion had to drive on the grass to avoid hitting the recovery vehicle.

Max Verstappen clinched his second F1 World Championship title in Suzuka. The Dutchman won the title after claiming his 12th victory of the season at the 2022 Japanese GP.

The race was however marred by the incident of a recovery vehicle being present on the track. Following Carlos Sainz’s crash in the opening lap, a tractor was sent to retrieve the Ferrari.

However, the vehicle was sent while cars were still racing on the track. The poor visibility due to the spray of the car and wet weather conditions meant the tractor posed a serious threat to the drivers.

Like Max’s former teammate Pierre Gasly who narrowly avoided a collision with the tractor. The Frenchman could have suffered a serious accident had the driver hit the driver at high speeds.

 

Gasly was speeding while the race was Red Flagged and received a penalty from the FIA. Later it was revealed that even Lewis Hamilton narrowly avoided colliding with the tractor.

But the lack of attention by racing officials received flack online. May drivers reacted to the incident and the public outcry led to FIA investigating the incident. And recent footage reveals that Max’s evening in Suzuka would have been different too.

Also Read: Lewis Hamilton comes terrifyingly close to Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari after lap 1 carnage

Max Verstappen narrowly avoided a tractor

Max Verstappen won his 2nd title on the same track he debuted in 2014. But the fairytale ending for the Dutchman would’ve ended differently.

Onboard from Verstappen’s car shows the tractor was already on track when the Safety car was present. And Max had to dive into the Grass to avoid making contact with the tractor.

Max commented post-race, “Of course, I arrived there first and I saw the crane. I have perfect visibility but when you’re behind, you always try to drive out of the spray.

The poor visibility caused by the spray made it difficult to spot the vehicle on track. And this could have resulted in a disastrous ending according to the Dutchman.

He adds, “You go left or right because you can’t see anything and that is when things happen. You drive suddenly left and suddenly you can see a crane or whatever, that would be very dangerous at any speed.”

Also Read: FIA hands Pierre Gasly 20 seconds time penalty and 2 penalty points for speeding next to crane at Japanese GP

Max Verstappen’s team condemns poor officiating of Japanese GP

Max Verstappen would’ve walked away without a title. Or maybe a driver would’ve been seriously injured had they collided with the vehicle.

According to some reports, there was a translation problem that caused the tractor to come early when cars were still racing. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was frustrated with the poor officiating during the race.

Perez said, “In any conditions, we should never see a crane on track while the cars are out there. You don’t know what could happen. It doesn’t matter about the conditions. It should just never happen.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner called for a full investigation into the incident. Horner drew parallels with the fatal collision of Jules Bianchi during the 2014 Japanese GP.

Horner said, “We lost Jules Bianchi here eight years ago and that should never, ever happen. There needs to be a full investigation into why there was a recovery vehicle on the circuit.”

Jules was the last F1 driver to die due to an in-race incident. He died due to injuries sustained by hitting a recovery vehicle on track. The FIA has launched an investigation into the timing and deployment of recovery vehicles during the race.

Also Read: “No respect for Jules memory” – Pierre Gasly fumes as he avoids a fatal accident in 2022 Japanese GP