Sad and avoidable...
Please share how it could have been avoided. Again, not trying to be clever here, I'm sure Charlie in particular would be all ears.
All videos so far are blocked. I'm a F1 fan, not some troll looking for gruesome videos. Can someone who saw the video give me a detailed description of it and why you think "it doesn't look good" (for Bianchi)? Thanks
Oh my God. another link to it and its just horrific Jules Bianchi Crash Suzuka 2014 - Vídeo Dailymotion
Here is another link to the video: GP du Japon - La vidéo de l'accident de Jules Bianchi que la FOM ne veut pas montrer Just a few inches and degrees more or less and the outcome could have been terminal or he could have missed it completely as Salo said. One hopes that the car took 99% of the impact not his helmet.... To be clear the green flag signals to drivers that from that point on the track is clear. This is always the case to precisely define the beginning and end of an accident site.
I don't think Kubica's crash counts; it wasn't on F1. Just my opinion. The last and only one after Senna (life threatening) was Massa's, no? And yes, I'd count BOTH of them freak accidents after watching it. Holy cr*p; he was going fast. And hit the crane at exactly the worst possible spot. There's no other way to describe it than as a freak accident, just like Massa's. However, it looks like he was traveling faster than he should, but only telemetry could verify that. Hoping for the best.
We'll have to see exactly what happened, but I think the only one that could have prevented this was Bianchi. I know nobody really wants to say it, but with double yellows waved and I'm sure radio communication of the incident, there's no way he should have been going fast enough for that to have happened. No way, unless there was a mechanical failure and/or his radio wasn't working, should he have been going fast enough to fly off the track at that rate of speed. That or the FIA starts calling a safety car for every single accident, which I think is not the way to go.
Yep!.... I kind of intimated this earlier; they don't often fall (fly?) off the track under double yellows. Or, as I speculated earlier, the car broke. Sutil said the light was bad, the rain was getting harder, and he just aquaplaned off the same way he had on the previous lap.... And onto the much 'loved' around here gravel trap. Which we know doesn't provide anywhere near the retardation possibilities as the much hated tarmac run off areas...... A few seconds either way, and the crane would have been gone. A few feet either way and it would still have been a big accident, but not the consequences we see now. ****, hitting the wheel of the tractor would have been a 'good thing'! As for deploying the SC, there are many comments in this very thread suggesting they're all ******* these days.... It's a very tough line to find, and in general I think Charlie gets it right the vast majority of the time. Ian
Its very possible he was running hard to catch up to the back of the pack running behind the safety car. This is common practice in most sanctioned racing bodies. His speed does seem to be extreme considering the conditions however and it is possible he suffered a mechanical failure not allowing him to slow down
+1 Throw in a wet gravel trap and as we've seen before, they almost seem to *accelerate* over the damn thing. Some here abhor tarmac run off areas. 'They should be made to pay for mistakes' etc. Seems they got their wish in the worst possible way. Ian
Hard to tell, but from the videos i've seen, Bianchi wasn't really moving *that* fast. Of course, fast enough for serious injury ... but not 'blindingly' fast. 40mph? 50mph? It may be that Bianchi was absolutely slowing for the corner, in accordance with the waved yellows ... but the corner is positively drenched, and Bianchi is hyrdo-planing with zero control over direction or speed. Just a thought ... Best wishes to Bianchi for a healthy recovery.
from the footage the crash is crazy, he just straight on go under the recovery vehicle now comes the flag, it's double yellow and before the truck is behind barriers its green and seconds later bianchi crashed
+1000. This just seems to be a case where nobody was "at fault" and all parties were doing what they were supposed to do. Except Mother Nature, who happened to drop enough water on that area of the track to create the situation.
Maria de Villota. Even though it wasn't a race weekend, it was an F1 car, very similar accident to Jules' and eerily the same team. At the time she lost an eye but she died a few months after the accident reportedly as a result of complications from the same.
As bad as this is if happened before carbon fiber helmets there no way he would even have a chance . Impo if he hit that lift any other way he won't have a chance the car held up pretty well . What makes this sad the only chance he has of moving up in f1 to to go as fast as he can in conditions like this Sunday . Praying for family and friends that he gets well
Sorry but no. Race could have started earlier to avoid low light and the brunt of the rain. Safety car could have been deployed. Race could have been red flagged at least 5 laps earlier when Massa reportedly pleaded with officials over the radio to end the race due to excessive water on the track. Arguably cranes should be positioned outside the race track, and perhaps Sutil's car should've been left where it was as it is obvious that carnon hitting carbon at the same height is safer than carbon crashing into heavy steel higher than the driver's eye line. A lot of people weren't doing what they were "supposed" to do, and someone will definitely end up bearing the blame.
Perhaps a Wet Circuit Recovery SOP could be adopted? This could happen in the dry with suspension or puncture failure but the odds of this are much more remote. The wet circuit significantly increases the possibility of shunts like this (Sutil in the same spot just prior). Wet circuit > Recovery Crane = Safety Car
Here is an image of that turn and where the accident occurred. If you look to the far right, that is the exit out of Dunlop and the crash area is a short distance from it (with the escape path). We know that Bianchi's car hydroplaned (based on Sutil's account) and there really isn't much area for him to scrub off speed over the wet gravel before colliding. I agree with the poster who said it looks like he was going 40-50 mph...fast enough to cause the damage we've seen, but not running flat out. Image Unavailable, Please Login
that was me The more i watch the crash video, the more i'm struck by how *slow* Bianchi was actually traveling. I'll stick with my estimate ... 50mph max. And as you've written ... given the wet surface and hydro-planing ... no real chance to scrub-off speed. My conclusion is that Bianchi was indeed going quite slow through the turn, when control was lost. Ya know what ... if we have a good frame-by-frame video, we can pretty accurately determine the speed at the time of impact.
