It's really unfortunate that F1 has so little credibility with fans that no one believes anything the teams say anymore. I sure don't believe what McLaren is saying. I don't believe what Alonso's manager is saying. That can't be good for the sport, if it still is "a sport". Its beginning to look more like reality TV where the producers decide what gets on TV and what gets cut.
I have never found him to have a toxic personality, I have always found him to be very nice.. From what I understand he has a concussion and they are just being safe. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204784072534257&set=a.1498613337903.2070978.1011232329&type=3&theater
Regarding the second part of your statement, if the car is already on the limit of aero/mechanical adhesion, then it is easily possible for wind gusts to move the car - wont take too much wind speed to do that.
Wouldn't there be a sudden loss of downforce... even if only momentary? They specifcally said that aero loads were fine. I'm not an expert... but I'm assuming aero and downforce are the one in the same in this instance for discussion puposes. Either way, given Seb's comments, given he's still in ICU of all places (after a clear MRI), and just the odd circumstances of a brand new and somewhat troubled car being driven by what many consider the best driver... it just seems odd a gust of wind caused this incident. I'm not trying to stir the pot, but from a simple fan perspective it doesn't jive... or at least they need/should better explain things for the fans.
Actually not. The wind gust alledgedly blew him to the inside of the corner. In effect, it would have added to the grip levels of the car not reduced it... In addition, he was not on the limit. McLaren haven't been anywhere near the limit in testing to date...
wind shear or a change in direction... is a possibility... if the aero was already at its' minimum limits with respect to speed, it would not take much change to remove any positive aero effect...throw in diminished mechanical grip... things can go wrong... it's not about large absolute amounts of air, but just enough to cross the line into bad territory
Bingo. Didn't even know he had an accident - probably because ironically enough, my daughter sustained a concussion in soccer practice and we were at the physician yesterday. Having coached my soccer team for a few years, I do have some experience with concussions (I'm not a physician, but we do train on identifying concussions and proper way to ease back into sports). Typically, the VISIBLE effects of a concussion (which include dizziness, loss of balance, trouble concentrating, light sensitivity, amnesia, nausea, etc) will last for a week or more. For children, it takes a few weeks before they should be fully active again. My point is that making an assessment off a picture - even the look on his face - is misleading. If he's truly concussed, then he may well look a little "off" - no doubt that's the case here. Funny thing is, we're so conditioned to question that we overlook the obvious. If a control master like Sainz claimed wind at the very same corner, no reason to immediately think otherwise unless McLaren and the spokespeople are acting strange (doesn't seem to be the case). Hope he gets well soon and all is ok.
That's a lot of speculation. If the wind hits the front half of the car at the apex, it will push the rear to the outside and the front to the inside. He will steer to the outside of the corner to try to correct...or just miss the correction. His rear ran wide onto the turf...losing traction and pointing him toward the inside...he then re-entered and gained traction shooting him into the wall. He hit the brakes and was downshifting on the way to the wall, then the crash. People are thinking of aero all wrong. Not that I'm an expert. Essentially what they are saying is that the aero was working fine at the time of the incident. So his car got blown and it got pushed in a predictable way by the wind that slammed into it. If the design were flawed, you might have seen the car actually lift off the ground or be disturbed in some violent way.
Coincidentally happened just as Vettel got in his mirrors. ; I feel bad for Nando, luck is not on his side of late.
+1 Further, If he was only doing ~85mph, he's not generating a lot of D/F...... IIRC, that curve is exponential - things are *very* different at twice that..... Cheers, Ian PS - I think most here have heard the radio traffic where they detail what the wind is doing where - Silverstone being one of the "best" that way....... These guys are on a pretty thin knife-edge much of the time.....
What are the chances that he doesn't race this season? and possibly retires? Magnussen should be happy deep down inside maybe he can get his seat back
This entire episode is so murky, convoluted, and contradictory. The most curious to me is the report that says "Everything is perfectly normal and he is in the ICU recovering." Recovering from something that is not abnormal? His manager says he is fine. To me, if you are "fine", you don't need to be in hospital. If he has some latent affects of the concussion that require monitoring, say so. Is something being mixed up in the translation? If he is just absolutely OK, why, after days of tests and observation, is he still in the hospital? There must be something indicating that he needs access to medical attention 24/7.
It's obviously a cover up. There's so much mystery and puzzling things to the build up of the crash, the crash itself, and the results afterwards. I don't buy Mclaren's claim of 'wind'. STR's Carlos Sainz JR crashed too, and he blamed the wind and no one cared. Suddenly Alonso crashes, has to be treated on track, airlifted to hospital, in ICU for God knows how many days, and all Mclaren can say it's the 'wind'? What we are that stupid?
I read somewhere some wild speculation that the KERS system actually jolted him after the crash and that it was a strong electrical shock as well as a concussion that made him go to the ICU. It's probably BS but something to think about while they don't give us the facts.
You think he's gonna retire with that salary lol! I'd be dragging my body into the car half dead to collect that paycheck.
Even Gary hartstein is now saying that the situation is odd at best. 3 days in ICU for a mild concussion? Please.
I guess fact is something is fishy. In German motorsport news appeared a lengthy article summarizing the fishyness and I fully agree with Dr. Hartstein. https://twitter.com/former_f1doc Alonso-Testcrash: Augenzeuge widerspricht McLaren - Formel1.de-F1-News The German article draws a parallel to some soon to be released Honda hybrid sports car and avoidance of bad PR. A simple crash would never lead to McLaren being so secretive. I wouldn't know where 15g to 30g come from by looking at the images. But sideways impact is directed through the chasis quite without any form of damping, making a less significant impact velocity result in a large spike. I know down here they advice people to employ a taser on someones spine in case of a real threat. A friend of mine took out an attacker and tasered his spine and the guy lost all body functions, shat himself and just lay there until the police came to pick him up. That would seem to correlate with what might have happened?
Nope, the original version is quite opaque too. Pedro De La Rosa went to the hospital yesterday and he was elusive when asked about Alonso´s health. I want to believe that this probably is not a big deal, but the way they handled it made the snowball grow in a time when the F1 junkies need a fix till the next tests.
To avoid any Schumacher/Bianchi type panic prior to opening the thread, I toned down the title a little. It's certainly an odd situation though. All the best, Andrew.
Thanks. FWIW I didn´t mean to insinuate anything near the type of drama that would go along with Schumacher/Bianchi type of injuries. It´s obvious Alonso is not even close to such a state but they are keeping him in hospital for more than Mclaren/Manager dares to admit. IMO this has to do with Honda/Mclaren covering their own asses whilst they investigate/repair their issue that has caused this in the first place without the FIA sticking its nose in. Its the only explanation I can think of right now that makes sense to me.
