Incredible near miss in German F4

[Mr_Thyroid]

Terrible failing in marshalling procedures. Sophia Floersch narrowly avoids SUV.

https://streamable.com/q268i

[MitchT]

Probably a young woman on the nail salon run blindly following her sat nav!

[Allyc85]

She has been fined 20,000 euros for sharing the video without permission! Think the organisers have got their priorities wrong somehow!

[Cold]

MitchT said:

Probably a young woman on the nail salon run blindly following her sat nav!

What?

Sophia Floersch may have been driving a touch too fast for red flag conditions but it seems the 4x4 driver took it upon himself to enter a hot track without the go ahead from race control.


Demonstrating how seriously they are taking this matter, the governing body Deutscher Motor Sport Bund have fined Floersch for releasing the footage without permission.

Floersch said:

I got an fine of 20000 Euro from DMSB, because i posted that video without permission if ADAC.

Definitely a feeder series as that's F1 levels of rule application.

[MitchT]

Cold said:

What?

I was referring to the SUV driver, in jest I might add.

[EDLT]

Did the car behind get penalised, it looked like they were going pretty fast for red flag conditions too.

[TooMany2cvs]

It's not exactly the highest of resolution videos, but even at full-screen, I'm not seeing much in the way of flags being waved - red or anything else. If you pause it just as she avoids the 4x4, there does appear to be a car in the tyre wall, but...

[hairyben]

who was driving the SUV, vettel

[p1stonhead]

She's been fined £5000 for putting the video on the internet. wkers.

https://www.motorsport.com/formula4/news/floersch-...

[DanielSan]

Red flags - slow down, be prepared to stop.

At no point is a red flag zone carry on at full pelt and ignore the flags.

[CrutyRammers]

DanielSan said:

Red flags - slow down, be prepared to stop.

At no point is a red flag zone carry on at full pelt and ignore the flags.

No, but ultimately I'd expect other vehicles not to be released onto track until they were 100% sure that everyone had seen the flags and slowed right down.

[Krikkit]

CrutyRammers said:

DanielSan said:

Red flags - slow down, be prepared to stop.

At no point is a red flag zone carry on at full pelt and ignore the flags.

No, but ultimately I'd expect other vehicles not to be released onto track until they were 100% sure that everyone had seen the flags and slowed right down.

True, but as soon as you see a single red flag that should immediately be triggering the driver to slow down massively, at very least being able to stop in what they can see. I suppose it's all timing, as I can't see a flag/dash indicator in the video, but that didn't look very slow to me.

[CrutyRammers]

Oh, I'm not saying that the driver wasn't at fault if they've missed he flags. Just that race control should have a system in place which deals with that safely if it happens.

[Cold]

It's worth noting that F4 drivers are very young. Sophia Floersch, for instance, is only 16 years old. Although she's been karting since she was five, she's still just a teenager and will make mistakes. The car following her was travelling at similar speeds and also had to drive around the 4x4.

The ADAC does need to reinforce the necessity for obeying the red flags, but it also needs to investigate the reasons for the 4x4 being on track at the same time as the competitors and with some urgency.

[The Wookie]

The rule is 'slow and be prepared to stop' but there's often pressure to get the car back to the pits promptly for tyre temps or changes for another run not an excuse obviously. It looked like she had backed off and was coasting to me but clearly she'll be getting another penalty if the stewards disagree

Personally it seems pretty daft to throw a red flag to collect stranded cars safely and sending the recovery truck while there are cars still running through that zone

[Rick101]

Not sure on this series but I can't imagine it's much different to UK MSA rules.

https://www.msauk.org/assets/273-292specificregula...

Red flag: Immediately cease driving at racing speed and proceed slowly, without overtaking, and with maximum caution to pits or start line obeying marshal’s instructions, and being prepared to stop should the track be blocked

[BelfastBlack]

According to other discussions online the red flag had only just gone out so its possible she only driven past 1 or 2 marshal posts displaying it. If this was the case then it's understandable that she was still carrying some racing speed as you don't necessarily stand on the brakes risking a pile up behind.

I don't have any particular source for this but either way the SUV shouldn't have been on track.

[mcdjl]

While accepting that the video quality is poor I can't see any flags in it. I'm normally quite happy to believe that any racing driver views flag messages as optional at best, but don't think in the UK you'd expect to find a slow vehicle crossing the track, going along it maybe but more usually on the grass to get to a car in the gravel.

[rallycross]

Hard to see any flags in that clip, Scary moment, she is a brilliant driver she won in Ginetta juniors at Thruxton in one her first races

http://www.itv.com/btcc/video-rising-star-sophia-f...

[The Wookie]

mcdjl said:

While accepting that the video quality is poor I can't see any flags in it. I'm normally quite happy to believe that any racing driver views flag messages as optional at best, but don't think in the UK you'd expect to find a slow vehicle crossing the track, going along it maybe but more usually on the grass to get to a car in the gravel.

I just about spotted a red light on a gantry and a flag off to the left ahead of where the stranded cars were. She clearly saw the red light as she's more or less backed off and coasting although it looks like she's still going at a fair rate.