Thank goodness the FIM don't have a Mr Whiting replica. San Marino has pooring rain today with standing water, and yet racers are allowed to race. Challenging conditions for highly paid athletes is good for racing and good for box office.
22 drivers crashed in Moto2 race yet MotoGP race just went on. Perfect. Charlie has weakened F1 in recent years.
Jean Todt would have put them in zorb balls long time ago *Why is balls censored now? This profanity filter is completely nuts! Guess I'll use "zorb testicles" instead then
Not sure where the posters' animus against Charlie Whiting comes from, when he is pretty much the last-man-standing at the FIA when it comes to experience-based competence. In any case, he's next in Todt's crosshairs and unlikely to be back next season. The accession of the guy who's been groomed as Charlie's replacement over the last year, Laurent Mekies, is nothing to look forward to, believe me – I've worked around him.
Unfortunately I think the actions of Jules Bianchi's family have a lot to do with Charlie's over cautious approach.
From Wikipedia re the 2007 Japanese GP: Due to torrential rainfall, the race was started behind the safety car, which led the field for the first 19 laps.[1] The Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa were forced to pit during the first few laps after starting on standard wet tyres, as opposed to "extreme wet" tyres, which were a requirement in the treacherously wet conditions. Ferrari boss Jean Todt later stated that the team were not informed about the requirements prior to the race, although all other teams were. CLUELESS Charlie Whiting sent an email to all the teams and he never received the "read receipt" from Ferrari; as it was a safety issue he should have made sure that Ferrari was on extreme wets and until it was confirmed that ALL the teams were on the extreme wets the race should have never started; instead the idiot punished Ferrari by making them change tires as set forth above. Post race interview: Jean Todt: The race was held in weather conditions so extreme that the start had to be given behind the safety car and it stayed on track for no less than 19 laps. In light of the weather forecast we had obtained, we chose to start on standard wet tyres but, after a few laps, we were informed of a decision of the stewards that demanded the use of extreme wets. The team had not been informed and only after the race, did we find that an e-mail had been sent to Stefano Domenicali which arrived after the start of the race. We were amazed and had to immediately call in the drivers to the pits to change tyres. Inexcusable conduct from Whiting. With Todt as the FIA prez now I'm surprised he didn't sack him immediately.
A lot depends on whether you believe Todt's account of what happened, and whether Ferrari were attempting to gain an advantage unfairly. Having had dealings with both Charlie and Todt, I know which one I would trust first. By the way, I'd be wary of letting Wikipedia have the last word on anything...
A tragic incident. If the FIA genuinely has safety top of its list, they can stop all race cars circulating while agricultural rescue trucks have direct and unimpeded line of sight of the circuit. Once these trucks are back behind Armco, cars can circulate once again.
If the accident is minor, then yes Red Flag the race, but for major incidents when a track is closed for an hour or two, the fans get riled up and the TV Stations are upset, as F1 runs to agreed time schedules.
The whole problem is that he's too cautious these days. I fully appreciate WHY he stopped Monza for example, but it's gone mad. There was plenty of opportunity to actually get out. The fact that it took over 2 hours to get a man out with a portable hairdryer is madness. After 20 mins there was opportunity to get out on track, everyone knows the best way to "clear" a track is to run cars over it at speed. The rain that fell after wards wasn't enough to stop the session then. The reason why he didn't let cars go out? Because he didn't know if it would rain again later or not! Who cares if it rains a bit later or not? That doesn't matter! "I'm sorry but from now on we'll yellow flag the entire GP as there might be an accident later on".... It's not the first time he's done this, or let everyone wait so long that the track has become dry enough for intermediates already. He's playing it just to safe....
+1 F1 is supposed to be peak performance. Some rain and cars cannot perform. Not only that, the FIA stop play for 2 hours. Amateur night.
Add to the fact that the only reason Grosjean crashed was because he drove faster than conditions allowed. His top speed was I think 51km/h higher than Vettel's. Everyone lifted early, Grosjean was the only one dumb enough to keep it floored (and then still blame everyone but himself, lol)
+1 Jules Bianchi's family is sueing everyone involved in that race that could have prevented the accident from happening....everyone. Yeah, these guys are being too cautious.
Sad state of affairs but the long and short of it is quite simple: Racing is inherently dangerous. In the end it was Jules that drove too fast for the conditions, and paid the ultimate price. It wasn't abnormally wet at the time either, almost all drivers still on the inters at the time. Massa didn't sue anyone either after his accident, and he had more right to IMO after a loose spring fell of and hit him on the head. Want to stay safe? Don't enter a racing car. Simple as that.
+1 Charlie Whiting allows a JCB digger to be exposed while cars are circulating ? Negligent to say the least.
Happened a million times before. Only once before (nurburgring 2007 in torrential rains) did a car come near hitting one.
And the speed that Bianchi was travelling at the time of his accident was negligence on his part! Had he been driving to the conditions and to the circumstances of what was happening on track, chances are he'd still be alive today!
I get where you're coming from. Obviously in hindsight that truck should never have been there. On the other hand double yellows where waved and 1000s of vehicles have been recovered this way, with a live track next to it. It sucks to say but Bianchi drove too fast for the conditions on the tires he had (inters), in a double yellow zone.