Tractor on track: Shocking video shows extent of risk at Suzuka!

A shocking fan video has emerged on social media showing the full extent of the risk posed by the presence on track of a recovery vehicle during yesterday's Japanese Grand Prix.

The race was neutralized by the safety car at the end of the first lap after Carlos Sainz spun and was forced to abandon his stricken Ferrari.

A nearby tractor was immediately called to the site of the crash to begin the recovery process, but the video clearly shows two marshals tending to the Ferrari as the tractor is positioned in place on the track just as the safety car and the field of cars enters the frame.

While the cars at the head of the field are running at a slow pace, the following drivers pass the scene of the operations at a higher speed.

Finally, as the video focuses on Sainz walking along the track, Pierre Gasly rushes through in catch-up mode, only aware at the last second of the presence on the track of the tractor and the marshals.

The unanimous angry reaction of the drivers, during the break and after the race, compelled the FIA to release a statement in which it said that "it is normal practice to recover cars under Safety Car and Red Flag conditions".

However, due to "the particular circumstances and also taking into account feedback from a number of drivers", the governing has launched a thorough review of the events involving the deployment of recovery vehicle.

The presence of the recovery vehicle was heavily criticized, not only by Gasly who felt that his life had been put at risk by the machine's ill-timed intervention, but also by several other drivers who viewed the situation as extremely dangerous, with everyone drawing comparisons to the late Jules Bianchi's ultimately fatal crash in the wet at Suzuka in 2014.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez said the incident was "the lowest thing I've seen in years".

"In any conditions we should never see a crane on track while the cars are out there," said the Mexican. "You do not really know what can happen there.

"It doesn't matter [about] the conditions; it should just never happen and I really hope that this is the last time we get to see in any category the recovery vehicles on track while there are cars out there.

"I think the first time, when we were on laps to the grid, the track was looking alright, even for inters, but I think it picked up before the race start and especially, I think, during the first lap it picked up even more.

"So yeah, I think in that regard it was right to stop the race, to start the race at the times we did, but what is really low and was the lowest thing I've seen in years was two crane vehicles out there."

Alpine's Fernando Alonso said the amount of spray out on track completed masked his view of the tractor when he arrived on the scene while running sixth behind the safety car.

"I still don't know where Carlos was," he explained. "I didn't see the tractor either. There is no visibility.

"Behind the safety car I could not see the tractor and I didn't see Carlos, so obviously this is the low point of the race. We need to understand that."

McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo who was eighth in the running order was also unaware of the recovery vehicle's presence at the site.

"I want to say I saw it after the fact," he admitted. "But I didn't even see it. I saw replays when I got back to the box, and I was like, 'Ah, maybe I think I saw it, but no, even that, you struggle to see."

GPDA director George Russell echoed his colleagues' views, insisting the presence of the tractor/crane was "unacceptable", especially as the topic had been covered in Friday's drivers' briefing following a minor incident that had taken place in Singapore.

"I think we spoke a little bit about it in the drivers’ briefing this week," Russell told Motorsport.com. "Because there was a tractor on track in Singapore with [Yuki] Tsunoda’s crash under a safety car, and it was at the point that people were transitioning to slicks.

"And we expressed our view that we don’t ever want to see that happen. That was obviously last week. To come here one week later, given the circumstances and the history of course, is pretty disappointing.

"We’re all going to of course speak to the FIA. In our view, it’s pretty straightforward. No tractors on track. And if you need a tractor on track, red flag it."

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