This Sunday the Chinese Grand Prix of the 2024 Formula 1 season took place and it had a more than resounding and notable victory by the Dutch Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, the fourth of five races held so far, which keeps the multiple world champion at the top of the classification table. the highest category of professional motorsports.
The Shanghai International Circuit returned to the calendar Formula 1 after having abandoned it 5 years ago due to restrictions due to the Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.
A regrettable incident and bad luck in Alpha Tauri
But part of the spotlight was also taken by the Alpha Tauri driver, the Frenchman Pierre Gasly. on lap number 12 when he had to enter the pits to change his tires. At that moment they lowered the Frenchman’s car without the change of the right rear tire having been completed and when the car fell to the ground and the rubber, still loose, hit the mechanic who also received another impact since Gasly believed that the change had been completed. Changed the tire and started.
The moment could be witnessed live and direct on the transmission and there was a tense moment but the mechanic was able to stand up with the help of another teammate and it was another mechanic who completed the tire change, but all of this had the consequence that the stop was less than 20 seconds, which compromised Gasly quite a bit in this Chinese Grand Prix. It was later revealed by the Sky Sports network that the mechanic who was hit by Gasly suffered a concussion from the incident, but there were no serious injuries that compromised him. Gasly finished in 13th place in the race and was later heard over the team radio asking if the mechanic in question was in good condition.
A career full of accidents
On lap 21 of the race the safety car saw action to remove the Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber of Valtteri Bottas from the circuit, who blocked when he reached a crow and his car raised a cloud of smoke at the rear and the Finn was the first to abandon the race. In the same vein, the incident occurred where Lance Stroll of Aston Marin collided with Daniel Ricciardo of Visa Cash App RB Formula One Team when reaching turn number 14; The damage to the Australian driver’s car forced him to abandon the competition.
“As soon as we started braking, you can see his helmet turn to the right, looking at the apex of Turn 14, he’s not even looking, and then when he looks back, he’s behind me. I don’t know what he’s doing, where his head is at, but all he has to do is worry about me in that situation, and he clearly wasn’t doing that. Let’s see what he says to the media, but if he goes after me, then I will say more,” Ricciardo told Motorsport.
Stroll, for his part, was quite upset by what happened and began to shout insults on the team radio., but later explained that: “I had started to calm down little by little, and then they told me what Lance thinks about the incident. Apparently, I’m an idiot and it was my fault, that made my blood boil, because it’s crystal clear, and also behind a safety car.
Due to this incident, the sports stewards of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) They made the decision to sanction Stroll with 2 Superlicense points. It must be remembered that if a driver is penalized with a total of 12 units in the year he will be suspended for one race.
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