RIP Jules Bianchi

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I am starting to feel depressed when reading those updates. I feel so sorry for that young man and his family...a guy with so much potential. I am just hoping that he recovers fully.
I am also going to say that those JCBs should not be used to remove crashed cars especially if a safety car is not deployed. There was a guy at the front who was trying to stabilize Sutil's car when it was being lifted... A few more inches and he would have been dead as Bianchi's car flashed by him like lightning. He hardly had a chance to react. I think if the tall care was there we wouldn't be discussing this now as Bianchi would have crashed into the tyre wall. If they are going to use those trucks they need to have the safety car out there first as those car aren't built to withstand that sort of crash.
 
That's what me and Iceman were talking about, unlikely that it is minimal considering the speed he was going at.

Really hope I'm wrong about that as it's hard to say how much of the impact was taken by the roll bar. But when I look a the image of the JCB that you posted above, it just makes me shudder. It's amazing his neck wasn't broken or crushed.
 
Trouble with bring out the safety car to recover any stranded car, doesn't that cause drivers to loose a load of temperature from their tyres, giving them a greatly increased risk of spinning off, so risking another crash?
 
Smithers said in the Schumacher thread that we need hope right now. I agree entirely.

I wrote a short story about Jules with a sort of Life on Mars spin, mostly as a way of letting out some emotion about this whole thing and trying to turn the negativity into something positive. It's not a huge read - just over 2 pages of A4.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrdk31d1yptgqlk/Bianchi.pdf?dl=0

It DOES contain real people and so I understand completely if people consider it disrespectful and will remove if necessary, but hope it can be seen optimistically. :)

Hoping for good news about Jules tomorrow. (Later today?)
 
Read this last night TomTom but couldn't respond as the board was going through it's downtime.

I think it's excellent sir. I don't think it's inappropriate at all. Very well done!
 
Smithers said in the Schumacher thread that we need hope right now. I agree entirely.

I wrote a short story about Jules with a sort of Life on Mars spin, mostly as a way of letting out some emotion about this whole thing and trying to turn the negativity into something positive. It's not a huge read - just over 2 pages of A4.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hrdk31d1yptgqlk/Bianchi.pdf?dl=0

It DOES contain real people and so I understand completely if people consider it disrespectful and will remove if necessary, but hope it can be seen optimistically. :)

Hoping for good news about Jules tomorrow. (Later today?)

That actually made my eyes water a bit mate. Beautifully done <ok>
 
That actually made my eyes water a bit mate. Beautifully done <ok>

Me too. At first I thought, 'I'm not sure I like this', but by the end I thought this is just the right therapy, tears and all. There's a photo somewhere of Jules and Michael reaching their arms out and almost touching; a very poignant image now.
 
Going to edit that statement above about Russia, was just rather a sad reminder when I realised all the drivers would have those on and we still don't know any more. More emotion than anything else. Bit of hyperbole in the moment.

If the short story had any effect at all for anyone that makes me happy, so I'm glad to see people's responses. Of course, most of all, I hope for Jules; it would be fantastic if we could have some uplifting news over the weekend. Keep fighting.
 
Like everyone, what has happened is very sad. This weekend will not be the same and nor will the other weekends. We need Jules to pull through and really hope he can and does. Life is fragile, too much tragedy in the world generally right now.
 
The drivers seem very somber, which heightens my fears on Jules's condition.
 
The drivers seem very somber, which heightens my fears on Jules's condition.

Still very early days if Jules is to make a reasonable recovery. The next key moment (news-wise) will be if/when they feel ready to attempt to wake him. I think that'll tell us an awful lot about his long-term prognosis.
 
Still very early days if Jules is to make a reasonable recovery. The next key moment (news-wise) will be if/when they feel ready to attempt to wake him. I think that'll tell us an awful lot about his long-term prognosis.

Indeed, i don't think the drivers know any more than we do tbh. The only people who will are the doctors and his family, and even then i doubt that they'll know that much more than what has been publicised. It's way too early to tell.

Also hated the speculation in the papers today that more family and friends arrived to see him, so the signs were even more worrying, totally irresponsible "journalisim".
 
The FIA has revealed more details about the circumstances that led up to Jules Bianchi's horrific Formula 1 accident at the Japanese Grand Prix.

During a media briefing at the Russian GP on Friday, F1 race director Charlie Whiting ran through CCTV footage of the minutes before Bianchi crashed into a recovery vehicle.

The video footage, taken from cameras overlooking Turn 7, showed the cars coming through the long left-hander in the closing stages of the Japanese Grand Prix.

FIA plans changes to yellow flag rules

With rain falling, the racing line appears to have less water on it - with worse conditions on the outside of the bend where cars are not running.

The incident begins when Adrian Sutil runs wide onto the outside line of water and spins off.

Whiting said: "There is a dryish line. As the rain has intensified, a little bit of water creeps on to the drier line, and as cars go a little bit wide there, you see that Adrian got onto that and lost control.

"He touches that slightly wetter bit of track, and he is behind Jules at this point.

"When he hits that slightly wetter bit of track, he loses control and spins."

A lap later, with double waved yellow flags being displayed, Bianchi hits the same bit of water.

But unlike Sutil, Bianchi does not spin around. Instead, he attempts to correct the slide but over-corrects and spears straight off the track.

Whiting added: "You can see Jules doing something similar. He hits the same bit of water, but there is a slight difference - he does not spin like Adrian did.

"He corrects and goes off at a slightly different trajectory."

Bianchi's car slides straight off the track and skips across a gravel trap before colliding with the recovery vehicle that is retrieving Sutil's car.

Whiting said that it was not yet possible to judge exactly what speed Bianchi hit the truck at.

"It is a little too early because you don't get any proper data from the car when it is going across gravel," he said.

"GPS data is all you can rely on and you cannot rely on that very much.

"It is not a good idea at this stage until we have proper investigations, really analyse the footage and GPS data to see what the impact speed was.
Heikki Kovalainen crash, Spanish GP 2008
"It would be too early to throw a figure out there and come back later and say it wasn't quite right."

The trajectory of Bianchi's accident means that even if he had not hit the truck, it would still have been a sizeable accident with the barriers.

"Looking at the first estimates of the speed of the car, I would say it would have been - with three row tyre barrier and guard rail -very similar to Heikki Kovalainen's accident in Barcelona [in 2008]," said Whiting. "But that is a very rough estimate."

Whiting said that initial analysis had ruled out mechanical failure for causing the crash.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116269
 
Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting's initial report into Jules Bianchi's Japanese Grand Prix crash was supplied to FIA president Jean Todt on Friday.

Just a few hours later, the governing body broke its silence on the details surrounding the horrific accident that has left the French driver fighting for his life.

After days of speculation, a lengthy press conference provided greater clarity about the events at Suzuka and what lessons have been learned.

Here AUTOSPORT picks out the key answers that were given as efforts to improve safety continues.

WAS IT WRONG TO START THE RACE AT 3PM?

Moving forward the start of the Japanese GP from 3pm due to weather fears was discussed, but rejected by race organisers.

Some have linked the start time to contributing to the Bianchi crash, but Whiting does not agree.

Charlie Whiting: "Firstly, the race start time is not really a matter for the FIA.

"I did suggest to the organisers that they might want to consider doing it earlier to get the race in, as the forecast was worse than it turned out to be. They didn't want to do that.

"I warned them that we would not run the race unless it was safe to run it, and there was a high probability that they would not have a race.



"They said no, they wanted to stick with the 3pm start time. But for me, the race start time is totally unconnected to the incident in question."

WHY DID THE FIA NOT BRING OUT THE SAFETY CAR TO DEAL WITH THE RECOVERY OF ADRIAN SUTIL'S CAR?

There have been many claims that the FIA should have brought out the safety car for the retrieval of Adrian Sutil's stricken Sauber.

Whiting says that doing so would be a break from normal procedure, and that double waved yellows is standard practice for the type of recovery that was taking place at Suzuka.

Whiting: "We put double waved yellows out because we felt the incident could be dealt with without using the safety car.

"The next stage up is a safety car but, because the car was well away from the track and against the tyres, it is the normal procedure for us to follow under those circumstances. We didn't see any need for a safety car."

DID BIANCHI SLOW DOWN ENOUGH FOR YELLOW FLAGS?

Double waved yellows inform drivers to slow down and be prepared to stop.

The FIA said that Bianchi had reacted and backed off compared to his previous lap, but did not reveal just how much slower he was.

Whiting: "I know what speed he left the track at. We have seen the data from all the cars.

"A lot of cars came through the double waved yellow sector, not everyone slowed down as much.

"There were some that didn't slow down much and some slowed down a lot - and I don't think we need to go into the detail of how much he slowed down relative to the others.

"Suffice to say, we do have that data. He did slow down and it is a matter of degree."

WERE THE MARSHALS RIGHT TO SHOW A GREEN FLAG AFTER THE INCIDENT?

Video footage of the Bianchi crash taken by a fan revealed a green flag being displayed after the accident - as is standard protocol.

There have been stories questioning whether or not this was a mistake, but Whiting says he is wholly happy with what the marshals did once the recovery was taking place behind that marshal post.



Whiting: "It was entirely the correct signal, because it was after the obstruction.

"What you must understand is that the green does not mean you can start racing because you have seen the green, you cannot start racing until you reach the green.

"It is exactly the same as a yellow. If you see a yellow going in to the first corner, you don't have to obey it until you get to it."

WERE THERE DELAYS IN THE FIA UNDERSTANDING HOW SERIOUS BIANCHI'S CRASH WAS?

The nature of the Bianchi crash meant that signals designed to alert race control of a major incident did not get relayed back, as systems on the car had been destroyed.

With television cameras not picking up the crash either, Whiting revealed that he had initially been unaware of how serious the situation was.

Whiting: "Simply the car was not visible

"My first thoughts were looking at the screen, where you saw the tractor recovering the car, 'this is taking a long time, it's taking longer than I expected.'

"Normally the marshals in Suzuka work really, really quickly. Then they said a car has hit the tractor.

"It was the clerk of the course. They got a message back from the post, that a car has hit the tractor. I said, 'what do you mean?' I couldn't see a car hit the tractor.

"It then took a while to get another camera and then we could see there was a car there.

"It was not completely apparent the condition of the driver: is the driver hurt? Is anyone hurt? When we found out we dispatched safety and medical cars."

Whiting estimated the delay was only around 20 seconds.

WHY WAS BIANCHI TAKEN TO HOSPITAL BY AMBULANCE?

In serious incidents, drivers are normally flown to hospital by helicopter. The decision to send Bianchi via ambulance was questioned at the time, but the explanation for why the FIA did that is clear.



FIA chief medical officer Jean-Charles Piette: "The main referral hospital, which is Mie General Medical Centre, is 15km from the circuit. The distance by road is supposed to be 25 minutes under normal circumstances.

"When Jules had his accident, the chief medical officer told me at that moment that the helicopter can take off from the circuit but cannot land at the hospital.

"So we decided, as initially thought from the morning, to use a resuscitation ambulance to go to hospital. With a police escort, the duration of the transfer was 32 minutes."

When asked if the extra time affected Bianchi's conditions, medical rescue co-ordinator Ian Roberts said: "The excess time was only seven minutes throughout the whole of the transfer.

"Jules was monitored very closely and he arrived at hospital in exactly the same state physiologically as when we left - so no.

"It was quite stable throughout and made no difference."

WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP?

As well as the FIA looking at ways to introduce new yellow flag speed limits, a full report on the crash is to be submitted to the its Safety Commission, which is headed by Peter Wright.

An expert panel may then be set up to look at lessons that can be learned to ensure that such an accident will never happen again.

FIA president Jean Todt said: "We have to learn from what has happened and we will learn from what has happened, because we cannot be facing such a situation again."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116271