Alonso airlifted to hospital

[EskimoArapaho]

Everybody's favourite stunt driver having a similar off in the same place last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf0wz8ObcSo

[glasgowrob]

Dermot O'Logical said:

Given the performance of the McLaren Honda thus far, have we actually ruled out attempted suicide?

You evil evil person

I lolled. Now my wife's looking at me funny

[IforB]

There's something deeply suspicious about this.

On the face of it, it was a pretty innocuous crash, but we all know that doesn't always tell the true story as the soft squashy component of the car can get hurt in lots of ways.

However, he looks like total crap in that picture and whilst no-one looks good when stuck in a hospital, he looks particularly dreadful.

McLaren immediately blaming wind and trying to pour scorn on the idea of electrocution or some other reason, just smells of PR bull to try and deflect from the truth.
It sounds a bit like the old Williams line of "it was an electrical problem" i.e a piston exited the block and cut the wiring harness... So as to spare the blushes of the engine supplier.

I hope he gets better soon, but I doubt he's recovering from a simple accident.

[London424]

Brundle has tweeted this morning saying "McLaren say Alonso downshifting while applying full brakes in accident. Unusual to pull for downshifts if you've lost control of a racing car."

[Vaud]

IforB said:

However, he looks like total crap in that picture and whilst no-one looks good when stuck in a hospital, he looks particularly dreadful.

He looks like someone who had a crash, mild concussion, was given strong sedatives (trying to get free from the spinal board, sedated in case he had serious injury?) and then kept in hospital for 36 hours, probably woken every few hours to check response levels, and hasn't had a shower, etc?

[IforB]

Vaud said:

IforB said:

However, he looks like total crap in that picture and whilst no-one looks good when stuck in a hospital, he looks particularly dreadful.

He looks like someone who had a crash, mild concussion, was given strong sedatives (trying to get free from the spinal board, sedated in case he had serious injury?) and then kept in hospital for 36 hours, probably woken every few hours to check response levels, and hasn't had a shower, etc?

Yep. No-one looks good in hospital, especially when they wake you every 4 hours to check temperature, pulse, blood oxygen saturation and blood pressure.
If he's not had a shower though, that'd be a trigger for the medicos to be asking why you don't feel like it and get them concerned that you are feeling worse than you are letting on.

He's definitely forcing a grin though, though there stuff all you can make out from a picture really. The interesting stuff is the fact he's still in there and that McLaren are doing their best Billy Flynn impression.

[rscott]

998420 said:

What a strange incident, Vettel saying he was going slowly and the accident looked weird, photographers saying his head was lolling to line side before impact .. The weird behaviour of McLaren and the blatant lies of his manager.

One thing I do know is that the wind excuse is pure BS. I was 10km away and never noticed any gusting wind at all yesterday. The circuit is buried in the hill and is largely sheltered anyway. Funny how Vettel and others who were not going "strangely slowly" did not veer off the circuit or report any difficulties whatsoever.

So, did he have a stroke, or faint due to a harsh diet ? Was it a car failure that McLaren want to hide from Honda, or more likely a Honda failure that McLaren want to hide from everyone ? For all the lies and strange behaviour it is increasingly hard to believe it was a simple driver error.

Odd. So Toro Rosso also lying? They blamed their crash on gusts of wind too.

[Bluebottle]

Dr Murdoch said:

Dermot O'Logical said:

Given the performance of the McLaren Honda thus far, have we actually ruled out attempted suicide?

I just snorted beer out of my nose

Thanks for that!...I know have coffee on my keyboard, have you any idea how hard it is to clean?

back on topic and the gust of wind conspiracy theory put up by McLaren, which is plausible...However, they stated;
"We can also confirm that absolutely no loss of aerodynamic pressure was recorded, which fact indicates that the car did not suffer any aerodynamic loss".
Surely that shoots down their own argument?

[Vaud]

Bluebottle said:

Thanks for that!...I know have coffee on my keyboard, have you any idea how hard it is to clean?

back on topic and the gust of wind conspiracy theory put up by McLaren, which is plausible...However, they stated;
"We can also confirm that absolutely no loss of aerodynamic pressure was recorded, which fact indicates that the car did not suffer any aerodynamic loss".
Surely that shoots down their own argument?

I think they mean that their wasn't an aero "fail" - i.e. the car aero behaved, there was no unexpected stall from the design that caused the car to break away, just the wind?

[Bluebottle]

Vaud said:

I think they mean that their wasn't an aero "fail" - i.e. the car aero behaved, there was no unexpected stall from the design that caused the car to break away, just the wind?

Yeah probably but taking them literally, if a gust of wind unsettled the car, they WOULD have recorded a pos/neg aero pressure spike on their equipment?

[red_slr]

I agree that this "wind story" is probably just a cover. But they are never going to tell us.
FIA wont investigate unless FA suffers serious injury - which so far it looks like he wont have.
He will probably have to undergo a further FIA medical but that's also just a formality.
It will be normal service after that and I doubt we will ever find out.

[London424]

As much as i buy it was windy (lots of drivers have commented) are we supposed to believe that a 2 time world champion, supposedly best driver on the grid, who according to Seb wasn't going that fast, crashed just because it was windy?

[dr_gn]

Does it really matter?

[Blib]

dr_gn said:

Does it really matter?

Does anything really matter?

[dr_gn]

Blib said:

dr_gn said:

Does it really matter?

Does anything really matter?

I mean, Alonso has a testing crash and ends up in hospital. Seems like everything has to be some big deal cover-up. Why?

Before the internet, this would probably have been forgotten almost before it was publicised.

[London424]

dr_gn said:

Blib said:

dr_gn said:

Does it really matter?

Does anything really matter?

I mean, Alonso has a testing crash and ends up in hospital. Seems like everything has to be some big deal cover-up. Why?

Before the internet, this would probably have been forgotten almost before it was publicised.

Not sure if a forum is the best place for you then. Without pointless discussion there's no point contributing.

[Jacobyte]

dr_gn said:

I mean, Alonso has a testing crash and ends up in hospital. Seems like everything has to be some big deal cover-up. Why?

It is weird. If it had been a simple "high G impact but he's perfectly OK and only taken to hospital for a formal precautionary check", he'd have been released by now. Hiding him behind sheets on the way to the helicopter seems overkill for such an innocuous incident. Then there's the conflicting stories of how it happened and whether it really was a gusty wind or something like a medical impairment might have actually caused the off.

Understandably, such inconsistencies result in questioning and speculation.

I just hope he's OK.

[dr_gn]

Jacobyte said:

dr_gn said:

I mean, Alonso has a testing crash and ends up in hospital. Seems like everything has to be some big deal cover-up. Why?

It is weird. If it had been a simple "high G impact but he's perfectly OK and only taken to hospital for a formal precautionary check", he'd have been released by now. Hiding him behind sheets on the way to the helicopter seems overkill for such an innocuous incident. Then there's the conflicting stories of how it happened and whether it really was a gusty wind or something like a medical impairment might have actually caused the off.

Understandably, such inconsistencies result in questioning and speculation.

I just hope he's OK.

Maybe the sheets were simply to give the bloke some dignity while he was laid out on a stretcher?

He had concussion; did it occur to anyone that maybe, just maybe, due to the recent high profile head injuries sustained by Schumacher and Bianchi, Alonso's medical team don't want to take unecessary chances?

Each conflicting story appears to have come from a different source, so why is that a surprise?

[Galileo]

On these pictures only one skid mark is seen....so what else is attached to the rear wheels sapart from the brakes?

[Potatoes]

Sapart from the brakes?

Tyres. Tyres are fitted to the wheels sapart from the brakes