Bianchi came off one lap after Sutil so they had however long it takes an F1 car to do a lap of Suzuka under yellows when there are rivers on the track and its aquaplaning to get the first car cleared, about 2 minutes I'd say. Don't know why they didn't use the escape road that the loader came down to push the car off. Maybe it was stuck in the gravel, maybe it's standard procedure at the circuit. There will be an inquest I'm sure. All the news I have is pretty much that he's in an ICU with a serious head injury so it could probably go either way still. He's not on life support though so that's a positive.
<2mins basically. the first one was buried into the types really far so it was a big job to get it out. The fact the tyre wall was badly disrupted has stopped other sessions so why a safety car was not out i do not know. in any event if after first incident a safety car was deployed people would have bene starting on radios etc. I feel as though right now if a second car ploughed into the first one it was a lot less dangerous than 5/6 unprotected stewards and a massive tractor to run under. Is there any real news yet. I heard he was still on respirator and only one op according to sky
Nasty, good luck to him obv Watched BBC highlights and the commentators were still unaware about Bianchi when the race had finished and described his car as having gone missing on the track Did other cameras pick it up? Anyone watching it live did it show you the accident until they realised how serious it was?
That is a nasty nasty impact, to move a heavy vehicle to that degree. Was wondering when the first vid would surface. Unfortunately it's exactly like I'd imagined it. The ground clearance of that loader is just perfect for an F1 car to go under and get smashed apart, and for a driver's head to hit the edge.
They didn't realise it was Bianchi or the severity of it till the race had been stopped and the drivers were out of there cars. Initially the commentators though the ambulance had been deployed for Sutil even though he'd been on the radio saying he was totally fine and was out of the Sauber car walking around. After the red flag news then started to trickle through the teams and drivers to the media as they gathered in the weigh room and waited to go on the podium. By that point everyone new who it was and how bad it was hence the muted celebrations. The TV cameras didn't pick it up but the race leaderboard that you see was showing that Bianchi had retired. This will be because the cars obviously all have a sensor to record their time in each sector and that they have crossed the start / finish line every lap. This footage looks like a smartphone from a nearby spectator area as the cam moves around so much.
Thanks Wintheleague Poor fella Yeah I saw and read about the muted celebrations and Button saying "We'll talk about the race ater. Right now im concerned for a colleague"
Hadn't actually seen the crash until saw above. Holy crap, looks awful Guy's lucky if he comes out of that in the same condition he went in I'd think.
US GP happening this weekend and taking place under several dark clouds. Jules Bianchi is still fighting for his life in the ICU unit of a Japanese hospital after his horror crash in the Jap GP and the new 'virtual safety car system' is being tested live for the first time. Two of the teams, back markers Marussia and Caterham have entered administration and so aren't competing at the race. Three other teams, Force India, Sauber and Lotus are apparently conspiring to boycott tomorrow's race in protest at the financial disparities and spiralling costs of competing in the sport that have led to the other two teams' problems that could end up with them ceasing to exist completely. On track the Mercs are predictably the cars to beat with Lewis Hamilton setting a blazing pace in all practice sessions and looking nailed on for pole barring mistakes, mechanical problems or a late surge from his embattled team mate Nico Rosberg. Hamilton has the racing and psychological high ground now and, again, barring mistakes and mech failures, should go onto win the WDC now. All Rosberg can do is take the race to Hamilton and quali and the race itself by the scruff of the neck, hope for problems on the other side of the garage and to claim the final payload of double points for the win in the final GP of the season, a new, possibly one-season-only introduction that Hamilton has criticised heavily this week. Elsewhere the usual suspects will be looking to fill up the top ten places on the grid, the Red Bulls, Williams, Alonso in the Ferrari, one, maybe both McLarens and the other top midfield runners. But all eyes will be on how many cars actually make it onto the track tomorrow and the long-term ramifications of the apparent protests this weekend on F1's sporting and financial structure.
everything will be ruined by greed eventually. its all designed to keep the top teams at the top and the rest struggling, sound familiar lol, we just have a bubble at the moment in football as well, but that will go tits up eventually. only saving grace will be at least it will return to being a working mans sport again rather than your tourist type fans with their ipods and prawn sannies.
This will never, never happen in F1 but I say just give all the teams the same chassis, the same engine and a list of aerodynamic add ons to choose from, then leave it up to the designers, mechanics and drivers to get the best performance out of the parts available to them. These should be of the highest quality and be the latest tech to keep it motorsport's top formula. Will never happen though for obvious reasons, greedy, corrupt sponsors, owners, organisers, inter-team politics, the fight for supremacy and the use of the sport as a PR/advertising exercise for the big motoring brands. The way forward with the current structure is to get the rich teams to field three cars to make up numbers on the grid. There's currently - and general speaking always is - too much top talent and not enough top seats in F1 so this would allow all of the best drivers to be in the best cars. Right now for example you've got Button in a stinker of a McLaren, Bottas in a Williams with far less resources and money available for development than Red Bull, Ferrari, Merc and McLaren (even though in modern times they manage to produce more stinkers than winners), Sutil and Perez who are both decent and could do something in a quicker car, Di Resta doesn't even have a drive. If it's going to carry on being massively financially misbalanced then that might as well be exploited by allowing more personnel, drivers, engineers, designers, to benefit from it.
Rosberg on pole, a surprise but not a surprise. Fair play to him, he was 0.376 up on Hamilton after his pole lap, big gap in F1 terms so he had the raw pace and got P1 fair and square. So it'll come down to wheel to wheel racing tomorrow. Can Rosberg finally oust Hamilton in a one on one dual, an area where so far he has been much inferior?? Will their be another coming together?? Or will Hamilton get a better get away off the line and gap him??
Bumped for Saitanton! No not really wanted to look at this table which I'd completely forgot about http://f1dreamteam.virtualsports.com.au/team Took me ages to find it (Gerrez's original post) as I'd bookmarked it on my other laptop thats still broke atm Im 4th! Linctus is winning, then Sgt Bhaji and then see you in Vethell (think these 3 are reg posters on the F1 board so no suprise there really)
so, if you're hamilton what do you do? Drive safely and see home a second place finish and the champ, or go aggressively for the race lead? I know which I would go for, and it's not the same one I think Hamilton will choose. He can't risk retiring from this race. only 2nd or 3rd will do (if Ros wins)
Rosberg will most likely try and keep it close tomorrow, rather than drive off. He'll want to keep the fast Williams, who are P3 and 4 on the grid, in the mix and hope they give Hamilton some trouble either positionally or through a collision - nobody wants the latter of these obv. This could backfire of course and allow Hamilton to drive around him. If Rosberg wins it on the double points it will be a hollow victory given their relative performances this season and the fact that this is a dumb one season gimmick dreamed up by the sport's geriatric excuse of an owner. Lewis has owned / schooled Rosberg for most of it. It would be tragic if he doesn't win the WDC this year.
