The worst was the announcer with the English accent saying "Dude, get out of the car!". Sorry to learn that 'dude' has made it across the pond. It's hard enough to deal with coming from my 12 year old.
It would be my take that he was trying to get the car the HELL OUT OF THE WAY. He almost hit the pit lane, then changed his mind. But he then realized he was directly in the race line and kept it rolling until he was as far off the line as he could get so that anyone from behind would be less likely to hit him. It's all THAT that makes me think so highly of him. He was thinking of other people the whole time. As far as the fire brigade not being there, no idea.... Jedi
They said that there are designated spots on the track where marshals with fire extinghuishers are placed. All drivers know where these spots are, and are supposed to drive exactly there in case of a fire. It sounds plausible to me that you don't place fire teams along the first part of the pit wall, as anyone with problems would usually drive into the pits.
+1 Further, the guys in the pitlane have more extinguishers than most stores - They're *everywhere*. It just took a surprising amount of time before one appeared thru the fence. No comments on my "why not fire the onboard"? question [Do they even carry an onboard these days?] Cheers, Ian
Indeed - That's partly why I question if they even carry 'em anymore. However, as noted, when they do go off, they really make a mess! It's worse than building a new car as *everything* has to be cleaned We had one go off just as we were buttoning up one night and an all-nighter ensued..... Cheers, Ian
I'm look at the regulations right now but I heard someone say that drivers are not allowed to enter pit lane with a burning car. Makes sense, that fire could accidentally do a lot more damage on pit lane, setting other stuff on fire. Kai
I'm not familiar enough with those pits to say for sure. At some tracks, I'd think there'd be a good "parking" place along pit-in, that might be a little better than along the SF straight. But you wouldn't expect to see extinguishers there. (Lewis in the gravel, maybe, but not extinguishers. ) But there's a lot of fuel in pit lane. (Even without Ferrari dragging a fuel hose along it. ) I also wondered why he didn't drive into pit lane. But he seemed to be trying to calculate the best place to park it, so you have to credit his presence of mind throughout. "Well, I'm a real ball of fire now." -- Grand Prix
I was watching this unfold and saying out loud "get out of the car man" "get out of the car man." Why won't the fuel cells explode? I didn't know that.
Finnish drivers have a word for this: Sisu. English approximation is "balls" but proper translation would be strong will, grit, determination, etc.
I was sitting just at the Finish line (not Finnish line, ouch that was bad) when he rolled by. We could see the flames/smoke coming around the last corner....it got oddly quiet, and then when he put it out the crowd erupted in cheer. I have to say it took some BALLS and a calm demeanor to do that as cars are screaming by at 300 kmh as well. Well done Heikki!
Hero is perhaps a bit of a strong term. Hailwood comes to mind when I think fires and hero in F1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r0Kwt5s_Y
If we are going to have a discussion about real Formula One heroes then we must include: Arturo Merzario Guy Edwards Harald Ertl Brett Lunger They are the four drivers who rescued Niki Lauda from his horrific crash at the Nurburgring
I remember Senna running to help someone in a car fire too... My bad...it's this one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOGiguIUyZ4
Right before they fire they showed Heikki spun out (by one of the Force India cars I believe) and sitting facing the wrong way. If you paid attention while he was spun out you would have noticed he was parked and on the gas quite hard which was proven by the amount of flames coming out of the exhaust. On TV at one point the flames looked like they were as high as his rear wing! I think that was what caused his fire. It wasn't even a minute later that they were back on him and his car was in flames. Here's a Youtube clip taken by someone that shows him spinning out and what he did afterwards. Notice how much he's revving the car and how much fire is coming out of the exhaust. Also, if you notice towards the end of the clip when he starts moving you see either the glow of some INSANELY hot headers or the fire itself already started: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaAySIiDmUQ
Two more... David Purley http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3McXp4Cb_Wo Mike Hailwood. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r0Kwt5s_Y
More awesome stuff. Hadnt seen the David Purley clip before. Thanks for the link. David Purley is now immortal in my mind.
