FIA changes rules after Japanese crane incident

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, has changed its rules after admitting it made a mistake in sending out a crane at the rain-hit Japanese Grand Prix.

French driver Pierre Gasly said he could have been killed after he narrowly missed the tractor deployed to recover Carlos Sainz's Ferrari.

The FIA launched an investigation into the grisly incident - and while it maintained the correct procedures were followed as laid out at the time - the recovery vehicle should not have entered the circuit as Gasly attempted to catch the rest of the pack in safety car conditions.

The FIA concluded that a recovery vehicle will no longer be allowed on the track until all the drivers are grouped behind the safety car.

Gasly's near miss came eight years after Frenchman Jules Bianchi crashed into a recovery vehicle in Japan. He died from his injuries nine months later.

The FIA also revealed that race director Eduardo Freitas, who took charge of the race in Japan on 9 October, will not be used again this year, with Niels Wittich to officiate the remaining four races.

Wittich and Freitas were due to rotate the role this year following Michael Masi's departure.

Ahead of this weekend's United States Grand Prix in Austin, the FIA said: "Even though it is common practice to deploy recovery vehicles once a race has been neutralised, the review panel discussed whether the entry of the recovery vehicle at Suzuka to retrieve the stricken Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was premature given the prevailing conditions.

"The review panel acknowledged 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.

"The panel determined that in hindsight, as the weather conditions were