Jules Bianchi Suffers Severe Head Injury

[steveaki13]

Thanks for that Mark.

Good if still sad news.

[makinen_fan]

FIA verdict on the crash
http://www.fia.com/news/accident-panel

[AndyL]

Interesting reading. So the main way they'll be addressing the problem is some sort of speed limit under yellow flags, which certainly seems sensible.

I'm not sure I fully agree with this conclusion:

11. It is not feasible to mitigate the injuries Bianchi suffered by either enclosing the driver’s cockpit, or fitting skirts to the crane. Neither approach is practical due to the very large forces involved in the accident between a 700kg car striking a 6500kg crane at a speed of 126kph. There is simply insufficient impact structure on a F1 car to absorb the energy of such an impact without either destroying the driver’s survival cell, or generating non-survivable decelerations.

The implication of this seems to be that the outcome would have been no different in Bianchi's accident if he'd hit bare armco instead of the crane, because of the speed involved. But not all accidents happen at that speed. There must be a wide range of speeds and impact angles where the car's crumple zones can do some good, if there is something at the right height for them to hit.
I wonder how much this conclusion was influenced by the difficulty and cost of modifying (and then inspecting and certifying) all the recovery vehicles at every circuit.

Good to see they're finally going to stop Bernie meddling with start times to suit his TV customers:

It is proposed that a regulation or guideline be established such that the Start time of an event shall not be less than 4 hours before either sunset or dusk, except in the case of night races.

It is also recommended that the F1 Calendar is reviewed in order to avoid, where possible, races taking place during local rainy seasons.

[Doc Austin]

I'm not sure I fully agree with this conclusion:

The implication of this seems to be that the outcome would have been no different in Bianchi's accident if he'd hit bare armco instead of the crane, because of the speed involved.

We see 220mph Indycar crashes all year long, and in some of them the drivers don't even get a scratch. What hurt Bianchi is that he struck his head on the crane. Had he hit the Armco it would have probably been an ordinary crash.

I have not seen any injuries reported than the head injury, so you can say the car did it's job protecting him. The helmet probably deserves some credit here too because hitting your head on something at that speed is simply not survivable, yet Jules still has some hope.

I wonder how much this conclusion was influenced by the difficulty and cost of modifying (and then inspecting and certifying) all the recovery vehicles at every circuit.

The recovery vehicles wouldn't be a problem if they kept them behind the barriers. I did not know they were allowed there, but if I did, it would have been easy to see this coming.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

We see 220mph Indycar crashes all year long, and in some of them the drivers don't even get a scratch. What hurt Bianchi is that he struck his head on the crane. Had he hit the Armco it would have probably been an ordinary crash.

I have not seen any injuries reported than the head injury, so you can say the car did it's job protecting him. The helmet probably deserves some credit here too because hitting your head on something at that speed is simply not survivable, yet Jules still has some hope.



The recovery vehicles wouldn't be a problem if they kept them behind the barriers. I did not know they were allowed there, but if I did, it would have been easy to see this coming.

With a collision with the Armco the car normally 'bounces' away from the barrier after impact ,making the overall deceleration more gradual. With Bianchi's crash he went from 120kph+ zero in about 3 feet.

[Robinho]

We see 220mph Indycar crashes all year long, and in some of them the drivers don't even get a scratch. What hurt Bianchi is that he struck his head on the crane. Had he hit the Armco it would have probably been an ordinary crash.

I have not seen any injuries reported than the head injury, so you can say the car did it's job protecting him. The helmet probably deserves some credit here too because hitting your head on something at that speed is simply not survivable, yet Jules still has some hope.



The recovery vehicles wouldn't be a problem if they kept them behind the barriers. I did not know they were allowed there, but if I did, it would have been easy to see this coming.

I don't think that is correct, I don't think his head impacted the crane, the injury is not an impact injury, concentrated in one point, but a spread injury throughout the brain caused by the rapid deceleration, not an impact. I remember reading at the time that there was not any impact noted on the helmet. I fear if his helmet had contacted the crane at 125kph they'd have been picking up pieces

[Doc Austin]

I don't think that is correct, I don't think his head impacted the crane, the injury is not an impact injury, concentrated in one point, but a spread injury throughout the brain caused by the rapid deceleration, not an impact. I remember reading at the time that there was not any impact noted on the helmet. I fear if his helmet had contacted the crane at 125kph they'd have been picking up pieces

One of us got some bad information becvause the article I read said the helmet was damaged. I've also seen the crash footage and it sure looks to me like his head hits the crane.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mot...-accident.html

I can find a link to where it talked about the helmet damage, but I think the video is pretty conclusive.

[Doc Austin]

Well, all right.

[Tazio]

Well, all right.

Sorry Doc, though I totally agreed, and saw where you were coming from in that post of yours I quoted, I felt that the wording of that comment was inappropriate and insensitive in regard to Bianchi's condition!

[Doc Austin]

Well, all right.