Jules Bianchi Suffers Severe Head Injury

[The Black Knight]

Here's close up footage of the crash

http://youtu.be/ObadBsi1mlY

It's a miracle he's alive honestly. I so wish he pulls through this. His F1 career is over but we can only hope that he gets a chance at living life at least.

[steveaki13]

Its terrible to see.

Completely different point, but its good to see the fuel tank stayed intact. That accident 20 years ago or so would have seen fire as an issue too.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Yes, I feel for all those reasons that this can hardly be put into the 'freak accident' category. What happened to poor Henry Surtees was a 'freak accident'. This is not.

With the exception of Brundle's mishap, I can't think of another similar incident in an F1 race. Why has this happened now? Well, it's very hard for any layman to come to a hard conclusion, but I too would suggest that driver behaviour in relation to flag signals has deteriorated. Without wishing to conflate two current issues, maybe the increased reliance on pits-to-car communication is partially to blame? It does seem true that F1 drivers (I don't see the same thing happening in other formulae) are more likely nowadays to miss or ignore flag signals.

I remember a few times when this has nearly happened.

Brazil 2003 when we had many accidents at the same corner and Germany 2007 spring to mind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69JUz9BDrXQ - Skip to 1.25, Luizzi nearly hits the safety car and the JCB.

[steveaki13]

Yer 2003 in Brazil Pizzonia? (maybe) crashed into Montoya's already crashed car and marshalls jumping over the barriers.

2007 in Nurburgring was it Hamilton who spun and then 4 or 5 more cars ran wide in heavy rain and Liuzzi as you say nearly hits the SC

Brundle 1994 is creepy because of how similar it was.

[anfield5]

You would think that with all of the technology in F1 it would be quite simple for race control to be able to push a button that sends a signal to each car's engine management system to limit power, taking the option to ignore flags out of the equation

[Roamy]

Here's close up footage of the crash

http://youtu.be/ObadBsi1mlY

It's a miracle he's alive honestly. I so wish he pulls through this. His F1 career is over but we can only hope that he gets a chance at living life at least.

i can't believe they had that big piece of sh!t on the track. This is horrible.

[Whyzars]

Terrible, terrible. Whoever said you can't "unsee" that video is absolutely correct. I have read many positive posts relating to Bianchi and his potential and hope that he can get back to his seat soon. Prayers.


Senna ran into the back of a car (Mansell?) in Adelaide years ago. F1 cars have been fair weather vehicles for many years and nothing I can see has been done to address it. Was Senna driving dangerously or over racing because everyone else is doing it? I still remember how late the back of the car appeared before he hit it. Ouch.

Wet racing should be the great equalizer but what I see repeatedly is a "pack up and go home" attitude once the minimum laps are satisfied.

The first item next year should be "spray mitigation" technology and see what the engineers can come up with. Maybe it can be permanent or fitted with the use of intermediate tyres, who knows. They had no issue producing the DRS to counter negative influence on a following vehicle and I see this as an extension of that principle.

I would rather brainy engineers tasked with improving vehicle performance/safety in the wet than how far they can get with a pack of AA's. The unfortunate habit an F1 car has of aquaplaning on a spilt cup of coffee might be something to consider as well.


If start times for races are based on European sleep patterns then we can be assured of many very wet races into the future.

[Eau Rouge]

ok just seen it and my god im in shock. I really hope he survives this horrible accident. Wet track and a big tractor on the track. TERRIBLE!!! Should have been be a safety car as soon as that tractor was on the circuit. Unacceptable by the FIA.

[Eau Rouge]

You would think that with all of the technology in F1 it would be quite simple for race control to be able to push a button that sends a signal to each car's engine management system to limit power, taking the option to ignore flags out of the equation

totally agree and good idea. Avoidable accident. I am in real shock.

[Zeakiwi]

I find it difficult to understand with electronic measurement systems available (i.e digital rain gauges etc) and measurement of the track (roughness index etc) it was not possible to calculate whether it is safe to race or not.
Certainly if Massa was saying to stop the race 5 laps earlier - the race controller was certainly not listening to an important source of information -(an experienced driver on the track) and possibly negligent in elevating the level of risk for the drivers' safety by not stopping the race earlier.