The 2014 Formula1 Thread!

[Railgun]

You'd think they'd have a camera already trained on that corner. I, too, find it odd there's no footage. In-car or otherwise.

 

[LTC8K6]

You'd think they'd have a camera already trained on that corner. I, too, find it odd there's no footage. In-car or otherwise.

There is footage of Sutil's crash, so there was a camera in the area.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...actor-recovering-car-Japanese-Grand-Prix.html

Car cockpit looks relatively intact.

 

[LTC8K6]

Looks like he went under the back end...not good

http://media.zenfs.com/en_GB/Sports/Eurosport/1326546-28524494-640-360.jpg

 

[LTC8K6]

His head must have hit the tractor as the car wedged under it?

 

[_Rick_]

So, I'm assuming that Alex Rossi or Rodolfo Gonzalez will take over for the rest of the season. I wonder if they get to pick a number for those remaining few races.
Hopefully he'll recover, I'd really like to see him next to Vettel in a Ferrari in 2016.

 

[manimal]

at church cant watch the race yet. Did the stewards offer to move the race up? Whoever chose to not move the race up is gonna get heat if he dies.

 

[_Rick_]

at church cant watch the race yet. Did the stewards offer to move the race up? Whoever chose to not move the race up is gonna get heat if he dies.

I don't think so. This was a rainy race like any other.


Instead, I see the blame mostly with Whiting not calling a safety car under difficult track conditions and with a dangerous obstacle in one of the most difficult turns of the course.
Blame also lies on the teams being slow to switch to full rain tires, and on Jules himself, for not slowing to a safe speed in a double-yellow sector.

Possible safety improvements to prevent future accidents of this type:
Enforce strict speed limits in double-yellow zones (pit limiter engaged)
Equip recovery vehicles with crash-protection skirts (to prevent the body of an F1 car to get caught under the recovery vehicle, and the driver's head becoming a crash structure)
Add additional head protection to the cars, such as front roll-hoops or a canopy. In sight of the de Villota and Massa incidents, the latter doesn't sound so unreasonable, if it can be made to withstand sufficient impact stresses. On the other hand, it could hinder egress in case of an on-board fire, which are more frequent still, than accidents with head injury.

I don't think it's necessary to get the safety car on track every time a recovery vehicle is in use, but maybe some corners that are known to be accident prone should get a special treatment, or track conditions need to be taken into account.

If a car had a technical issue and is stopped somewhere, that drivers almost never crash, flags should easily be enough, but there are two corners in Suzuka where crashes are quite frequent, and with the run-off compromised, you'd think a safety car would be in everyone's interest. Frankly, I was more surprised we didn't get one here, than i was with Hungary's non-safety car when Perez rammed the pit wall.

 

[Lonyo]

The problem is the make safety cars in F1 such a hassle and they take such a long time it's a mega disruption when they use them, so they probably try and minimise it. They really should improve the whole safety car process.

But when it's a weather related incident, and one person has gone off there, they should reconsider their approach, such as in Brazil 03 or the COTA GT race where people went off due to weather at places they might not normally, or in greater numbers.
If someone just went off due to rain, expect and assume that other people will as well.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Tragic. I hope Bianchi makes a full recovery.

 

[thedarkwolf]

at church cant watch the race yet. Did the stewards offer to move the race up? Whoever chose to not move the race up is gonna get heat if he dies.

Yes they did offer to run the race earlier but the promoter shot it down. They talked about it at the start of the race.

 

[Lonyo]

Moving the race wouldn't have changed the root cause of a freak accident. It rained before and during the race and would have rained even if the race had been an hour earlier.

The aquaplaning could have still occurred and the same incident could still have happened, since it was a case of the track being wet and 2 cars going off at the same place, one after the other, and the recovery vehicle being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sutil reported that Bianchi did hit the tractor.

I knew something had happened before the announcers did. The announcers thought the safety car was out for the rain at first.

When the pace car pulled out though, the medical car rocketed out right behind it and blew past it.

I knew it must have been going to a crash.

So did I. I saw the medical car deployed at the same time as the safety car but the shunt Sutil had didn't seem like it was anything that would require a doctor.

 

[Brian Stirling]

And it's more than 9 months since Michael hit his head in a non-racing incident,,,

You never know when your number is up.

We'll probably know more in a day or two, but if his car dived under the back of the crane and he hit his head on the crane the potential for damage could be enormous.


Brian

 

[LTC8K6]

Moving the race wouldn't have changed the root cause of a freak accident. It rained before and during the race and would have rained even if the race had been an hour earlier.

The aquaplaning could have still occurred and the same incident could still have happened, since it was a case of the track being wet and 2 cars going off at the same place, one after the other, and the recovery vehicle being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If they had started an hour earlier, it wouldn't have been so dark...

http://news.yahoo.com/bianchi-undergoes-surgery-suzuka-crash-131637320--spt.html

 

[The Boston Dangler]

You'd think they'd have a camera already trained on that corner. I, too, find it odd there's no footage. In-car or otherwise.

there's the mandatory roll-hoop camera and at least 1 other on every car. the footage is being withheld for good taste as much as legal reasons.

at church cant watch the race yet. Did the stewards offer to move the race up? Whoever chose to not move the race up is gonna get heat if he dies.

the fia asked the promoter (honda) to move the race up by as much as 4 hours at least twice. the promoter chose not to in consideration of the fans in attendance. i don't think the promoter is on the hook for the crash, since it's up to the fia to determine if current conditions are satisfactory. nor is the fia on the hook - 1. participants accept reasonable risk, 2. f1 runs in the rain, and 3. they already sat out worse conditions earlier.

in the end, it's just a racing accident, although obviously a very serious one. to my knowledge, every rule was followed and the officials acted appropriately and consistently with previous rain situations.

 

[LTC8K6]

also saw former F1 driver Italian Andrea de Cesaris, 55, killed in a motorcycle accident in Rome

RIP

 

[The Boston Dangler]

until the crash, i thought the race was pretty good. rosberg should have eaten the extra stop and changed his worn tires before hamilton passed, and then he stayed out even longer, losing more time.

there was a ton of skill on display all over the place, although the fia did leave the initial safety car (rain) out too long once again. just as they leave it out too long for mid-race incidents. notice how, before a rain delay, they always runs a few laps to make the event officially taking place - no refunds for the fans, the track or the tv companies.

the event announcer cluelessly went through his regular podium script, with "and now, THE CHAMPAGNE!!!!!". at least the drivers had the class to not spray, but they should not have even raised or sipped the mandatory bubbly. champagne is for celebrating good times, not for serious head injuries.

 

[LTC8K6]

Thinking about how the TV cameras make it seem a lot brighter than it actually is, it must have been pretty dark.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

also saw former F1 driver Italian Andrea de Cesaris, 55, killed in a motorcycle accident in Rome

salut!

 

[Meghan54]

the event announcer cluelessly went through his regular podium script, with "and now, THE CHAMPAGNE!!!!!". at least the drivers had the class to not spray, but they should not have even raised or sipped the mandatory bubbly. champagne is for celebrating good times, not for serious head injuries.

No one ever said that. What race were you watching?

 

[Brian Stirling]

Yeah, not a fan of the podium interview by racing celebs, particularly Coulthard. Lets go back to the interview room with an actual interviewer...


Brian

 

[Furkmyster]

Yeah, not a fan of the podium interview by racing celebs, particularly Coulthard. Lets go back to the interview room with an actual interviewer...


Brian

Nigel Mansell was just as bad yesterday.

I sure hope Bianchi makes it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Nigel Mansell was just as bad yesterday.

I sure hope Bianchi makes it.

He was horrible. He kept talking over Vettel, you couldn't understand what either of them were saying. And how many times did he have to hug Lewis? I thought he was going to try and kiss him at one point.

 

[_Rick_]

He kept talking over Vettel

That irritated me as well, but then I think he did it after Vettel said "we were lucky with the safety car" -- which was true from a racing standpoint, but appeared maybe a bit tasteless given the circumstances.

At that point, that Mansell wanted to cut him off, maybe so he wouldn't continue to dig a hole for himself.
Or maybe he was still bitter about Vettel's Mansell impersonation a few years ago

Still, it was a bit rude, especially since Vettel was the only one on the podium who actually did some racing that day - the swap of position between the two Mercedes was an easy move, and neither really had many exciting experiences to exchange, while Vettel did two overtakes, pitted and was fifth, then got called to the podium - let the man say two or three sentences...