F1 - Jules Bianchi

[aworkc]

"Marussia release a statement from the family of Jules Bianchi saying the Formula 1 driver has "suffered a diffuse axonal injury" and is in a critical but stable condition.

The 25-year-old sustained severe head injuries after his car hit a recovery vehicle that was removing another car at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix"

 

Just saw this on the BBC Website, looked into what this means and 90% of people with this type of injury don't ever regain conciousness.

[Abaddon]

Not good. Poor bloke.

[aworkc]

Yeah it doesn't look good at all

[plexer]

Doesn't sound good but I guess that the immense fitness of an F1 driver should hopefully put him in the 10% who do category.

 

Ben

[penfold_99]

I can see why the news channels are only showing the crash from the front angel and not the reverse, it was horrific. The guy is lucky to be alive and in one piece as his car went under the rear section of the jcb.

Just hope he can make a full recovery.

 

I also hope the FIA bring in a rule that they must use aerial cranes and not jcb's in future grand prix as this will reduce the chances of it happening again.

[aworkc]

To be honest I don't think the race officials did anything wrong, it was just very very unlucky.

 

Obviously though in a situation like this everybody wants to blame somebody. Obviously I hope that he is in that 10% but with a head injury it's so difficult to know.

[synaesthesia]

It was very unlucky, however the majority of blame, I'm sorry to say, has to lie with the driver. Especially when they were accelerating and doing over 200kph in double waved yellows. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one doing it, so there could be stricter rules in place for driving under yellow flags.

And no matter what some moronic drivers (looking at you Massa) or ex drivers (idiot of the year Villeneuve) and some other muppet people think it was neither too wet or dark.

Do hope he recovers; it's certainly unlikely he'll be driving in F1 again but let's just hope he pulls through.

[Alkaline]

He would of known the risks and accepted them.

[m25man]

http://www.smellmyclutch.com/video-jules-bianchi-crash-japan/

[plexer]

And no matter what some moronic drivers (looking at you Massa) or ex drivers (idiot of the year Villeneuve) and some other muppet people think it was neither too wet or dark.

 

Didn't realise you had a super licence and were on the track at that time.

 

Ben

[gaz350b]

So some of the discussions us f1 fans have had is that most think he was hit in the head by the jcb.

 

Based on video and his injuries sustained is it safe to assume his head missed the jcb? As surely at that speed he would have been decapitated?

[synaesthesia]

No implication of that was made. It has been far wetter and far darker in plenty of instances before. Everyone loves to find something to poke blame at, whether it's an apparently misplaced flag or the hindsight value of a safety car, and the media as usual make it worse. Bianchi was victim to "normalised stupidity" (read "everyone is doing it, it's OK for me to do it too" - try pulling that when you're done for speeding through roadworks on the M1) bad luck (location, timing) and worn tyres.

 

The best things that can come from this is looking at how vehicles are used on track if at all, protection on them if they really must and long reach cranes are out of the question, and stricter enforcement of the rules on driving under yellow flag conditions.

 

Gaz - looking at the state of the back of his helmet it looks as if he was just low enough to scrape underneath it - no doubt it probably pushed him down. Couldn't bare to think if he was but an inch higher up...

Edited October 7, 2014 by synaesthesia

[Ausy]

It was very unlucky, however the majority of blame, I'm sorry to say, has to lie with the driver. Especially when they were accelerating and doing over 200kph in double waved yellows. Unfortunately he wasn't the only one doing it, so there could be stricter rules in place for driving under yellow flags.

And no matter what some moronic drivers (looking at you Massa) or ex drivers (idiot of the year Villeneuve) and some other muppet people think it was neither too wet or dark.

Do hope he recovers; it's certainly unlikely he'll be driving in F1 again but let's just hope he pulls through.

 

Check the video and they are waving green flags right where the crash happened!!

[synaesthesia]

Correct. Some discussion between those in the know (pundits, safety guys etc) - many think it's fine as that shows the start of when it's clear, some think it should have been another 100y down the road.

[aworkc]

Check the video and they are waving green flags right where the crash happened!!

 

Bianchi wouldn't have seen those flags as he hadn't got to that point of the track yet. He would have only seen the double yellows being waved before he approached the corner.

[Ausy]

Bianchi wouldn't have seen those flags as he hadn't got to that point of the track yet. He would have only seen the double yellows being waved before he approached the corner.

 

The flags at that point are on an elevated tower so they can be seen before reaching the corner.

[aworkc]

The flags at that point are on an elevated tower so they can be seen before reaching the corner.

 

But a driver wouldn't be looking ahead to the next stretch of track, they would only be looking at the flags at the point of the track that they are on or else they aren't doing their job properly.

 

The fact is at the section of track approaching where the accident happened there were double yellows waving meaning that they have to slow down. If Bianchi ignored them, then that is his fault (Obviously I have no idea whether he did or not). The Green flag waving behind the accident is telling the drivers that they have gone past the accident now they can drive at a normal speed again, so it is irrelevant in what happened to Bianchi.

[sonofsanta]

I've seen the video, and a couple of photos, and it is terrifying. The momentum he carries into the back of the tractor is incredible.

 

It's natural to want to find a way to stop it happening again and to find someone/something to blame, but I really think it is just one of those incredibly unlucky moments that you can't guard against. If you want to definitively stop high speed crashes, the ony way to do it is to stop high speed racing. It can't have been that wet as drivers were coming into the pits and changing onto new inters, not full wets, so I don't know what Massa was screaming about. But as @plexer says, none of us were driving that track; we'll never really know.

 

I fear that, even if he does recover to consciousness (and breathing on his own is surely a good sign), he'll never be able to race in F1 again, which is an enormous tragedy for him and us.

[crc-ict]

Given that in some F1 races they seem to get the Safety Car out for no more serious reason than someone in the crowd having wind, it seems mad to me that with that going on, in those conditions, the Safety Car wasn't deployed.

 

But whatever the rights and wrongs of it, lets keep our thoughts with Jules and his family.

[Tesla]

Check the video and they are waving green flags right where the crash happened!!

 

Already been explained, that green flags were being waved for the next part of the track, which was clear, up to that corner, there were double waved yellows.

 

With regards to the injury, i can't get my head around it. They say it was caused by rapid deceleration, yet when he hit the truck, his car didn't exactly come to a dead stop. if anything it was a slower stop than hitting into a barrier/tyre wall. in that case, logic then dictates the deceleration must of occurred by him whacking his head on the jcb as it went past?? but surely then that would be an impact injury rather than a rapid deceleration injury?

 

Either way, i wish him all the best.

[Hefferzzzz]

That JCB/Digger/Crane should not have been where it was (outside apex of high speed corner!?) in those conditions without a safety car. Drivers seem to very rarely lift to a safe amount under yellows or double yellows becuase they are racing and dont want to lose time.

[gaz350b]

The flags at that point are on an elevated tower so they can be seen before reaching the corner.

 

Which I doubt with the amount of spray on the track at the time.

 

I think this is one of those sod law moments where many things went wrong.

 

Wet weather gettting worse by the minute

Sutil crashed off behind bianci so he was the last person to come across the accident scene

Drivers not slowing down enough for yellow flags

JCB probably came on to recover far too quickly

Safety car not deployed fast enough for sutil.

 

None of the above caused the crash but they all probably contributed to it. We've seen all of the above happen at one time or another. But as Martin brundle said it could have been him in the same race, same conditions, same corner 20 years ago. He was lucky enough to have missed the jcb

Edited October 8, 2014 by gaz350b

[cobra427col]

I think there has to be a cause for concern on the gravel traps.. they just didnt seem to be doing their jobs.. all of the cars that went off over the weekend just seemed to be skimming over them - I actually commented to the other half that the traps didnt seem to be working as the Sauber went off.

 

If they had been more 'grabby' then maybe Bianchi wouldnt have gone into the JCB

[plexer]

I think there has to be a cause for concern on the gravel traps.. they just didnt seem to be doing their jobs.. all of the cars that went off over the weekend just seemed to be skimming over them - I actually commented to the other half that the traps didnt seem to be working as the Sauber went off.

 

If they had been more 'grabby' then maybe Bianchi wouldnt have gone into the JCB

 

It's amazing how many cars escape from gravel traps these days and are able to carry on so I reckon they must have reduced their effectiveness to do this.

 

Ben

[penfold_99]

It's amazing how many cars escape from gravel traps these days and are able to carry on so I reckon they must have reduced their effectiveness to do this.

 

Ben

 

It's probably down to the ride height of the cars which have steadily increased I've the years.