Monday 6th October 2014

Motorsport on Monday: 6/10/14

F1 silly season kicks off - but transfers are irrelevant after safety mars the weekend

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The topic of circuit safety has been raised a few times now in Motorsport on Monday, most recently on the run up to Monza with the FIA's decision to build a car park on the entry to Parabolica. Like it or not it didn't affect the race and, really, hardly detracted from the challenge the corner poses at all.

We have everything crossed for a full recovery

Forza Jules
Last weekend safety reared its head again following Jules Bianchi's horrific crash at Suzuka. Designed in '62 By John Hugenholtz as a Honda test track, the facility is still firmly rooted there with minimal run-off and some very high-speed corners. I'm not particularly a fan of the modern Tilke-dromes with their masses of get-out-of-jail-free Tarmac, but if this style of circuit lessens the risk of an impact with something - anything - then I say pave everything over. If it stops just one person from being seriously injured or worse then in my opinion it is worth it. I can speak from personal experience, as I'm sure two- and four-wheeled motorsport enthusiasts everywhere can.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction, far from it, but moving barriers back and giving a car time to slow down has to be advantageous in an accident.

I'm not saying anything should be done just yet, and in my opinion a full investigation won't yield a conclusive outcome either; what would the alternative have been? To leave a stricken car in a dangerous area and not attempt to recover it under yellows? No. It just so happens that circumstances, like they do on these rare occasions, were not in Bianchi's favour.

If Alonso is on his way to McLaren...

That doesn't make it alright, but as the signs that litter circuits across the globe read, motorsport can be dangerous. We enter into it as competitors and spectators at our own risk.

At the time of writing, Bianchi had undergone surgery for what a CT scan showed to be a severe head injury. All that we can hope now is that the young Ferrari-affiliated Frenchman pulls through.

Silly season
If you hold the belief that Formula 1 drivers can be petulant and petty, then you're probably right. But to see the whole grid come together following Bianchi's accident was quite touching.

These are guys that get paid upwards of 20 million euros a year for doing what they love, but when one of them (and even to an outsider it seems like a tight-knit group when something like this happens) is in a bad way, it affects the whole paddock.

For all the squabbling, tit-for-tat politics and blow trading at the front of the field this year it was heart warming to see genuine concern and compassion for someone who is first a friend and colleague, a rival on track second. So F1 drivers are real people. Who knew.

... does that mean Button is on his way out?

On the subject of how much they get paid, last weekend at Suzuka marked the start of some intra-grid movement. The big news was that the grumpy one at Red Bull will leave to face a new challenge at Ferrari next year - and he thinks he's had it tough in 2014? - while the happy one at Red Bull will be promoted to lead driver, F1 toddler Daniil Kvyat coming in alongside him. Ricciardo will probably want a pay rise from the 750,000 euro he currently nets.

Remember those little 9x9 puzzles as a kid, the ones with one free square in them that you needed to slide the tiles around? That's exactly what the F1 driver market is like - you always need one free square (or seat) for the movement to begin.

Now Vettel has vacated and Kvyat come in, it leaves a space at Toro Rosso. That means the Italian squad could have a 2015 driver line-up where neither owns a proper driving licence and with an average age of about 12.

Crash marred a great race for Hamilton

The other interesting analysis is at Ferrari. With Vettel arriving, it must mean Alonso is off, more than likely to McLaren, although nothing's confirmed. There's also a rumour circulating that, disappointed with his pace this year, Ferrari may pay Raikkonen off to make way for someone else. Again.

Could that someone have been Ferrari young driver Jules Bianchi? Let's hope we get to find out and Bianchi makes a full recovery.

If Alonso is off to McLaren, it means someone will be getting the boot at Woking. Despite a few penalties for some strong moves this year, given some half decent results, good drives and plenty of potential shown, it's unlikely Kevin Magnussen will be cruising around the lake and out of the gates to the McLaren Technology Centre for the last time, which means Jenson's time might be up.

RIP Andrea de Cesaris

Points of note
The weekend was marred by a terrible accident, but that doesn't mean we can't also celebrate some brilliant driving. Namely Hamilton going round the outside of his teammate into the sphincter-tighteningly fast turn one in conditions that would normally require a keel.

That represents bottle and supreme skill, and a man that is determined to win the championship this year. It's another mental blow for Rosberg, being beaten from pole and having a move like that stuck on him. Now the momentum is firmly with Lewis, who has a 10-point lead in the championship with three races to go. Still, double points in Abu Dhabi means it could be a shootout in the desert.

Another point of note from the weekend was the sad news that ex-F1 driver Andrea de Cesaris was killed in a motorcycle accident aged 55. Our thoughts are with his and Bianchi's family and friends.

[Images: LAT]

[smilo996]

Good article. Shame that Sky Sports have gone all faux sympathy and not shown the race highlights for the past two days.

You have to wonder about Ferrari sometimes. Do they think that by paying Vettel 80mn they are getting another Schumaker who will provide a lack of emotion and enfirece discipline at Ferrari.

If they are rumoured to be letting Kimi go then what is the logic of letting Alonso leave. Ferrari have a history of having 2 No1 drivers after all.

It would be a shame if Button was the casualty. Yet again he shows that he is a real thinking driver and that McLaren have just not delivered.

There seems to be a trend in MotoGp and F21 to let the playstation generation in to try and prop up audiance figures. Riders from Moto3 jumping stright in, minimum age barriers being broken, riders and driver who have not actually won anything being promoted. They have forgottne then teenager fans have no money and recent puberty ridden teenagers is not good for safety and mature racing.

Expecting a crashfest for next year. Odd when both sports are trying to reduce costs.

[aarondbs]

Firstly thoughts and prayers with Bianchi and his friends and family.

The article mentions KevinM and his performances suggesting he should perhaps stay at McL and not Jenson? The article doesn't mention Jenson great drive this weekend, and the massive points difference between Jenson and Kevin. Bias?

[PhantomPH]

I actually have a feeling that Bianchi was being lined up to partner Vettel at Ferrari, before this awful accident.

My prediction for next year would have been:

Mc : Alonso, Magnussen
RB : Ricciardo, Kvyat
Fer : Vettel, Bianchi
Wil : Massa, Bottas
Mer : Rosberg, Hamilton

I think we might have seen Button go to the likes of Force India or Sauber. Because Williams are locked down, they won't change, but to me Button would have been a much better option at Williams than Massa. Sadly, I thin the reality is that Button's F1 career is over now. LeMans Series...

[VladD]

aarondbs said:

Bias?

Opinion.

p.s. I hope JB stays. Great drive at the weekend.

[Jay101]

Really hope Jules recovers from that crash and my heart goes out to his family.

Can’t believe there’s a possibility that JB might be out…
I can’t blame McL for chasing Fernando but I thought they’d keep Jenson. He can shine in the right car and I think next years McL/Honda could be just that.

Yesterday was a return to form I think. One of the other teams would snap him up, but his contract renewal has come at a bad time.

[sticks090460]

The seriousness of the Bianchi incident seems to have been caused by him hitting the JCB thingy. from memory, Martin Brundle has been making noises about this on TV commentary for some time, due to his incident/ near-miss in Japan. If they used big-boomed cranes positioned outside the barriers like they do in Monaco, surely he'd be in a better state(?) Might still have collected Sutil's car so hardly trivial but not as bad, you'd have thought

[Matt Bird]

Hi all,

No offence was intended with the original headline, it was simply easy to misread. It has now been amended so that Sean's meaning is unambiguous! Thanks as always for the feedback.


Matt

[Hasbeen]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we had marshals & a mobile crane working to remove a crashed car.

I assume there were would have been flags waving at that point, to tell the drivers to slow down, in an effort to protect those workers putting themselves in harms way for the good of the racing.

I just thank god it was not a marshal injured by a driver who did not take enough care.

[dc2rr07]

'Now the momentum is firmly with Lewis, who has a 10-point lead in the championship with three races to go. Still, double points in Abu Dhabi means it could be a shootout in the desert.'

Four races to go !

[aarondbs]

VladD said:

Opinion.

p.s. I hope JB stays. Great drive at the weekend.

A fair point perhaps although if an article makes a comparison and appears to make a judgement but excludes key information or delta(!) in making that judgement then either research has been poorly undertaken or bias has informed research..

[Otispunkmeyer]

sticks090460 said:

The seriousness of the Bianchi incident seems to have been caused by him hitting the JCB thingy. from memory, Martin Brundle has been making noises about this on TV commentary for some time, due to his incident/ near-miss in Japan. If they used big-boomed cranes positioned outside the barriers like they do in Monaco, surely he'd be in a better state(?) Might still have collected Sutil's car so hardly trivial but not as bad, you'd have thought

Rental prices for those cranes are wallet busting to say the least!

[Oddball RS]

Nothing to do with barriers, it was to do with a 'Digger' being where it shouldn't have been.

[zeppelin101]

Oddball RS said:

Nothing to do with barriers, it was to do with a 'Digger' being where it shouldn't have been.

None-the-less, he is incredibly unfortunate to have hit the crane where he did. A few metres to the other side and he would have probably been fine.

[jazzdevil]

Oddball RS said:

Nothing to do with barriers, it was to do with a 'Digger' being where it shouldn't have been.

Surely it's exactly where it should have been - recovering the stricken Sauber? That's why they are at the marshal post duing a race.

It's just very sad fluke that the Marussia aquaplaned off track and skated to the same incident spot.

Have to agree with other posts though that boom cranes over mini-mobile versions keep the machinery the right side of the barriers and fencing. Yes the costs are mad, but I'd gamble the FIA will not be considering that with the inevitable safety review that will come from this.

1. forzajules

[Oddball RS]

jazzdevil said:

Oddball RS said:

Nothing to do with barriers, it was to do with a 'Digger' being where it shouldn't have been.

Surely it's exactly where it should have been - recovering the stricken Sauber? That's why they are at the marshal post duing a race.

It's just very sad fluke that the Marussia aquaplaned off track and skated to the same incident spot.

Have to agree with other posts though that boom cranes over mini-mobile versions keep the machinery the right side of the barriers and fencing. Yes the costs are mad, but I'd gamble the FIA will not be considering that with the inevitable safety review that will come from this.

1. forzajules

No it was not the right piece of equipment for the job was it, it should have been a boom crane, therefore it was not in the right place, it should have been in the paddock. All the money spent on track safety and we are going to use a 10 ton piece of pig iron on wheels to recover the car. Its not good enough to say ahh its unfortunate or the law of sod, modern risk assessment in in place to avoid just such incidents. Outside of a corner, limited space, wrong recovery method, this was waiting to happen, the conditions just guaranteed it.

[The Wookie]

jazzdevil said:

It's just very sad fluke that the Marussia aquaplaned off track and skated to the same incident spot.

To be fair it's far from unusual for cars to end up hitting exactly the same spot in quick succession, particularly when it's an incident caused by something like aquaplaning. I've been clobbered by other cars when sat in a gravel trap more than once after skating off on oil or standing water and even identical mechanical failure. This wasn't a freak accident, it was unfortunately both predictable and avoidable to an extent.

Having said that there has been a huge amount of finger pointing, knee-jerk wailing and hindsight commentary over what happened yesterday. Anyone who knows me and my response to a shunt I had at Thruxton earlier in the year will know I'm certainly not a defender of the status quo and will happily shout about things which I think are wrong, but a lot of the rhetoric knocking about is unhelpful and will not help us to learn from the incident.

Having Safety Cars triggered at every minor event would be unnecessary and spoil the racing.

Any comments about the weather are more or less benefit of hindsight IMHO and the speed at which the track evolved in both directions showed the knife edge they were working with when it came to the balance of challenge and danger to carry on the show. Unfortunately a show is what it is, I've had to take part in a race that went ahead despite terrible conditions for the sake of TV coverage and was one of 4 or 5 drivers that managed to aquaplane their way to an accident (in my case at about 30mph) within the first lap. That was daft, this was a track that went from damp to dodgy in the space of about 5 minutes.

Closed Cockpits and their merits and pitfalls have been covered extensively already.

Yes it would be great if we could cover the whole of each track with Monaco Cranes and eliminate JCB's from the track entirely but if it's not economically viable then it's not going to happen.

I personally think the solution to what happened is incremental and a procedural change. Realistically I think there needs to be a better risk evaluation for where these sort of vehicles are going to be in the firing line and they either need to be replaced by cranes in those locations and/or lower the threshold for triggering a safety car or even automatically when an incident is caused by aquaplaning or a contaminated track so that the vehicle can be retrieved when the race has been neutralised.

Perhaps there could even be a halfway house between yellows and safety car that utilises the same 'minimum sector time' method that happens in F1 when the safety car has been deployed and the pack is reforming.

Another issue is drainage, it's woefully inadequate at many circuits, particularly older ones and is in most cases perfectly curable. Rivers running across the track is always an accident waiting to happen, and there's an argument that it's not sufficiently evaluated when compared to barrier and runoff design.

Edited by The Wookie on Monday 6th October 15:09

[garypotter]

The wookie above makes some very good points and is obviously talking from experience, I agree circuits cannot afford to have long reach cranes all around the circuits and these jcb cranes are possibly the quickest way of removing a stationary car SAFELY, especially for the marshalls.

I read last night that Sutil had stated that at the corner he saw Jules lose control and managed to catch it, he hit the water lose control and went into the barrier, if that is the case Jules must have been aware of the perils of that corner and with the waved yellow flags knew that an incident had occurred. I do feel that the speed of the racing cars in these situations, pouring rain, no visibility, all using worn tyres, kittly litter runoffs (an arguement for tarmac runoffs is another story) the speeds around an incident should be a lot slower for all concerned - drivers and marshalls.

[PunterCam]

Oddball RS said:

No it was not the right piece of equipment for the job was it, it should have been a boom crane, therefore it was not in the right place, it should have been in the paddock. All the money spent on track safety and we are going to use a 10 ton piece of pig iron on wheels to recover the car. Its not good enough to say ahh its unfortunate or the law of sod, modern risk assessment in in place to avoid just such incidents. Outside of a corner, limited space, wrong recovery method, this was waiting to happen, the conditions just guaranteed it.

I think it's more driver fault than anything else. If a digger is recovering a car, the drivers should be driving appropriately. If the right flags weren't being waved, then fair enough, mistake made by the marshals. If the rules don't state that the drivers should slow down x amount, or pass through a sector at a set speed, then perhaps they should, but having a recovery vehicle on track isn't inherently dangerous. I mean, how on earth are you meant to recover cars that aren't smashed into tyre walls without them? Normal tracks aren't as narrow as monaco.

Freak accident really. Perhaps something could be implemented to slow drivers down more under yellow flags, or enforce whatever the current rules are more aggressively, but there's not much else you can do is there? Stop the race every time there's a crash? Safety car every time there's a crash? F1 is pretty damn safe these days. Drivers behaving/better rules for drivers to follow in events like these would be the only realistic thing to do here.

[Hasbeen]

The Wookie, perhaps it should be required of the drivers that they drive safely when under yellow flags.

It is quite probable that under waved yellow flags there are marshals on the track, & every driver should drive in such a way as to not endanger those marshals. Naturally to drive so as not to endanger marshals, they will be driving in such a way to not endanger themselves.

No driver has the right to endanger a marshal, & any that do should be disqualified instantly, & have their competition licence withdrawn for a moderate period.

When I was setting lap records around Bathurst in open wheelers, there were no run off areas, you could still drive off the edge of the mountain, through a barb wire fence, of into one of the thousand or so trees lining the road.

A yellow flag usually meant marshals in a position of danger, & we also had white flags. Stationary these indicated a tow truck or an ambulance was on the track, waved that one of them was not far ahead of you. If it was not accompanied by a yellow, the vehicle was moving toward the pits. If you had passed one of those at high speed, it would have been some time before you raced again.

Drivers have to remember racing is not a video game, & take at least reasonable responsibility for their own safety, & that of officials who are doing a necessary job.

Racing was much more dangerous in the days of space frame cars, with alloy fuel tanks strapped on the outside of that. Hitting things usually hurt, so we tried to avoid doing it, & perhaps took more responsibility for our own safety.

[The Wookie]

Hasbeen said:

The Wookie, perhaps it should be required of the drivers that they drive safely when under yellow flags.

It is quite probable that under waved yellow flags there are marshals on the track, & every driver should drive in such a way as to not endanger those marshals. Naturally to drive so as not to endanger marshals, they will be driving in such a way to not endanger themselves.

No driver has the right to endanger a marshal, & any that do should be disqualified instantly, & have their competition licence withdrawn for a moderate period.

When I was setting lap records around Bathurst in open wheelers, there were no run off areas, you could still drive off the edge of the mountain, through a barb wire fence, of into one of the thousand or so trees lining the road.

A yellow flag usually meant marshals in a position of danger, & we also had white flags. Stationary these indicated a tow truck or an ambulance was on the track, waved that one of them was not far ahead of you. If it was not accompanied by a yellow, the vehicle was moving toward the pits. If you had passed one of those at high speed, it would have been some time before you raced again.

Drivers have to remember racing is not a video game, & take at least reasonable responsibility for their own safety, & that of officials who are doing a necessary job.

Racing was much more dangerous in the days of space frame cars, with alloy fuel tanks strapped on the outside of that. Hitting things usually hurt, so we tried to avoid doing it, & perhaps took more responsibility for our own safety.

Strangely enough recently on here (I think it was in relation to that terrible incident involving Tony Stewart) I commented on the fact that national or international level drivers typically slow down a lot less than club drivers to the point of club drivers slowing excessively. Personally I (and the majority of racers I know, and there are at least as many hot heads in my champ as anywhere else!) will back off to below the limit so the car is under full control but typically no further, although I'll generally back right off for a blind corner or crest if I'm approaching double waved yellows as I'll be expecting a car to be across the track blocking my path.

You get some idiots who don't slow down but generally they'll get held up by someone that's more sensible and wont be able to overtake. Most drivers I know will also be wary of being seen to be gaining too much of an advantage over a car in front. I think most drivers are also sensible in the wet, they will back off a fair bit as the risk of losing control is higher.

Personally I can't remember seeing a car lose control or have an accident under yellow flags in my entire racing career (admittedly only 8 or 9 years), it's probably happened at least once but it must have been minor enough that it hasn't stuck in my mind. I have absolutely no doubt that they would have been punished as severely as you get on a race weekend, although I'm not suggesting that's enough.

Perhaps backing off below the limit is not enough but you're in a situation with a bunch of competitive people, in some cases competing for their livelihood, and they will push the limits of what they can get away with without crashing or being penalised. I don't like the idea of racers needing to or being trusted to balance risk to themselves or anyone else with their performance any more than is absolutely necessary. I think it the effect danger level has on driver behaviour is well overplayed. These days any perception of danger in a series is more likely to shift the demographic into a safer car/series. Educate by all means but a safety aware driver will already be sensible while a reckless one will remain an idiot.

Yes there is a risk to marshals that we should absolutely all think about when racing but I know few drivers who enjoy crashing (it still usually hurts!) or paying for damage, regardless of how likely they are to emerge from the accident unscathed. Again, some are more reckless than others but they will have almost universally identified themselves as a problem beforehand and the system should be dealing with them before they cause a serious accident under any circumstances, whether it be car on car contact, yellow flags or anything else.

Perhaps drivers should be watched more closely and punished more readily for taking the piss under yellows but I don't see it as a massive issue and I think the fundamental thing is to cater for and mitigate the risk rather than make any expectation of anyone involved. It's also worth pointing out that you can be backed right off and being sensible and still drop it in aquaplaning conditions. As I mentioned before I managed to lose control and have an accident between the last two corners of Croft at about 25-30mph just because I was unfortunate enough to pick a spot with particularly deep standing water that no-one else had ventured over. Sometimes the off itself isn't avoidable without hindsight.

Edited by The Wookie on Monday 6th October 18:23