Jules Bianchi Suffers Severe Head Injury

[SGWilko]

A number of people have commented about Bianchi not slowing for the yellow flags. Let's not forget that slowing down is no guarantee you won't crash, if you hit an unexpected puddle; just ask Marcus Ericsson about that. So the fact that he crashed is not necessarily proof that he failed to heed the yellow flags.

That's true - but to see that accident alone tells you just how much inertia was in that car - heck, it upped and moved a 6 tonne truck........

[jens]

Based on the crash video I have to say it is basically a miracle Jules is still alive... But this head injury he has suffered is certainly no pleasure and a proper suffering. Hopefully he'll have an easier time than what Michael Schumacher has endured so far, but to be honest they are all awful things, so I better not try to compare, guess or think about it.

[nigelred5]

a diffuse axonal injury is never good. Best of wishes to Bianchi.

[MrJan]

A number of people have commented about Bianchi not slowing for the yellow flags. Let's not forget that slowing down is no guarantee you won't crash, if you hit an unexpected puddle; just ask Marcus Ericsson about that. So the fact that he crashed is not necessarily proof that he failed to heed the yellow flags.

As Wilko said, there's no way that he was going slowly...and certainly not a speed where he could be prepared to stop. All comes back to what I was saying earlier, drivers need to obey the rules or be punished properly when they break them. Take that Le Mans slow zone thing, any driver caught over the limit gets a 5 second stop/go for every km/h over the 60 limit. You put something like that into F1 and I guarantee that it doesn't take long before drivers are playing the game.

[steveaki13]

And if he was on inters then he pretty much has no argument.

Thats the weird bit. Massa saying it should be stopped.

Why not pit for full wets, like 4 or 5 others had?

[steveaki13]

Firstly , when Sutil aquaplaned off , his car was in the middle of the zone that was waved yellow , and his car came to rest at the end of the zone .
The puddle that put him into the barriers was , it can be argued , as much a danger as the car in bad position .

The yellow zone that was in place started about half-way through that corner , so Bianchi would have been at racing speed to that point , being asked to slow down in a turn .

As the car was being lifted at the end of the zone , Jules could see the green beyond , and I have read that the telemetry shows he was actually on the gas when he lost it in that same puddle Sutil hit .

I would suggest that the zones be changed , so that the entire corner is shown yellow .

If that is the case, thats stupid. Surly the answer is to have a fair zone ahead of an incident "Yellow" then a driver has time to see the yellow flags even if he misses one.

I mean the incident was around Dunlop corner? So the yellows IMO should start at least half way back down the Snake section.

That gives plenty of time to see flags and slow down in time.

The problem we have seen over many years though is "how slow is Slowing down a bit"? Unless a set restriction is in place, drivers will always go a bit faster to not loose so much time as someone who lifts off.

[steveaki13]

But , Adrian was right there , and I feel for him right now , and hope he's ok , too .

Absolutely this is important to remember. Adrian Sutil may well need some support. Must be horrible to say anyway first hand, but as a driver it must affect you.

[steveaki13]

A number of people have commented about Bianchi not slowing for the yellow flags. Let's not forget that slowing down is no guarantee you won't crash, if you hit an unexpected puddle; just ask Marcus Ericsson about that. So the fact that he crashed is not necessarily proof that he failed to heed the yellow flags.

Thats true, aquaplaning is possible in an F1 car at 200 MPH or 60 MPH, of course at 60 MPH he would have barely made the crane though.

Get your point.

[Bagwan]

If that is the case, thats stupid. Surly the answer is to have a fair zone ahead of an incident "Yellow" then a driver has time to see the yellow flags even if he misses one.

I mean the incident was around Dunlop corner? So the yellows IMO should start at least half way back down the Snake section.

That gives plenty of time to see flags and slow down in time.

The problem we have seen over many years though is "how slow is Slowing down a bit"? Unless a set restriction is in place, drivers will always go a bit faster to not loose so much time as someone who lifts off.

They have an overview of the track layout in that section on Motorsport.com .

[Somebody]

Three things leap to mind as "stuff they should now do:
1) Some sort of crumple-zone "skirt" around recovery vehicles to at least lessen any impact, prevent cars potentially getting underneath them and - most importantly in this case - prevent crash structures being ripped off. Never going to be safe, but could at least be made safer.
2) A severely-reduced delta time to be driven to while going through a double-waved yellow zone, ala what now happens between the SC going out and cars falling into line behind it, rather than just lifting for a fraction of a second.
3) No driving in the dark on non-floodlit circuits...

A number of people have commented about Bianchi not slowing for the yellow flags. Let's not forget that slowing down is no guarantee you won't crash, if you hit an unexpected puddle; just ask Marcus Ericsson about that. So the fact that he crashed is not necessarily proof that he failed to heed the yellow flags.

One half emm vee squared.

Kinetic energy increases with the square of speed. Drive twice as fast, and the crash has four times the kinetic energy. Go from 60 mph to 200 mph, and you have eleven times the kinetic energy.

Slow down and you might still crash, but the likelihood of your brain being smashed around inside your skull in a (near-)fatal way goes down tremendously.