the Suzuka F1 report’s key findings

The report from motorsport’s governing body also highlights major flaws in F1’s safety car and virtual safety car delta time procedures, as well as stating Gasly “drove in a reckless manner” during his part of the controversy.

It also suggests officials made the wrong call in sending recovery cranes onto the track when they did.

The wet race was stopped after just one racing lap following Carlos Sainz crashing his Ferrari on the run from the hairpin and Alex Albon pulling over his damaged Williams car a short distance further down the track from the Sainz crash site.

The incidents were initially covered with a safety car before being upgraded to a race stoppage three minutes later.

At this point, Gasly passed two cranes sent to recover the two stopped cars while running adrift of the pack. That shocked and angered both the Frenchman at the time and his colleagues once they had exited their cars during the lengthy red flag that cut short the event.

Race control misses Gasly in the pitlane

With the pack running behind the safety car, the FIA officials permitted the Suzuka marshals to send two cranes onto the fast, curving run between the Hairpin and Spoon corners to recover the stricken cars.

But Gasly was missing from the snake as he had pitted to get an advertising board – ripped from the wall lining the track by Sainz’s crash and then left in the path of on-coming cars – removed from the front of his AlphaTauri.

As he did so, the FIA report states that “as efforts were focused on safe recovery, the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly in the pitlane was not immediately detected”.

It continues: “Race control do not necessarily monitor all cars that may pit during safety car periods as they are more concerned about any area containing an incident and neutralising the field behind the safety car.”

Gasly entered the pitlane seven seconds before race control permitted the marshals near the Sainz crash site to enter the track, with those near Albon’s car already working to remove it.

The order to allow the crane to move Sainz’s car came 14s before Gasly exited the pits, which was also the exact point permission was granted for a crane to be sent on track to move Albon’s car too.

The FIA report states that “having recovery cranes on track at Suzuka during the weather conditions is a sensitive matter in view of the tragic incidents of the past”, referencing Jules Bianchi’s ultimately fatal accident in 2014 when he hit a…