Just found this footage of Jules Bianchis crash at the Japanese GP on Sunday.

If he survives this then someone is looking after him..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaon...njury.html

WOW

Thats shocking! Thoughts are with both him and his family...

The last slow motion clip lets you see that his head might very well have struck the tractor....  Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Holy

Really hope that he comes out of this ok, horrific accident.

That's awful! The weight on the back of the recovery truck is right at head height.

Scary!  Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

They really shouldn't be racing if recovery vehicles are in front of the safety barriers.

Agreed... I guess there will be some tricky questions for the FIA to answer! Just ridiculous this could happen in this age of "SAFE" motorsport...

Agreed, but the FIA have stated that double waved yellow flags were displayed at the marshals post before the incident, which means slow down & maintain control, as it's possible marshals or equipment are on track dealing with an incident.

Don't get me wrong, it was a horrible accident which thankfully didn't involve any marshals or rescue workers being hit & from which I hope he can recover. But why point fingers & apportion blame?

watching the Sutil clip of wreckage being cleared, I saw the green flag being waved, prior to Jules crashing, with the tractor on track!, it was in a high up marshalls' sighting box.
However, we are all wise after the event, and having hard sided recovery vehicles is necessary to remove wrecks, its more so a lucky escape really for those marshalls running amok, trying to hook up Sutil! There could have been many more cars sliding into them.

xjsracer44 wrote:

But why point fingers & apportion blame?

I have reservations posting this as it is against the flow of current comments, but here goes.

Firstly, it is a terrible accident and I do hope and wish that Jules recovers from it.

The press and social media commentators are blaming the lack of safety car, but it wouldn't have helped here as Bianchi would have been back at the corner before the safety car influenced his speed.

The green flag being waved there was correct.

The circuit is split into marshalling sectors, and the flags control/warn of incidents in the sector between one post and the next, going around the circuit in the normal racing direction.

Watching the video from the beginning, yellows are there to start with and change to green. This is because during the early part of the video the incident (Sutil's car on the digger) moved "backwards" into the sector before that marshals' post, so the sector after that post became clear, so green flags are shown. Protocol would dictate that the yellow flags would have moved "back" one sector to match (no video proof of this though).

The accident, recovery and marshals were protected under double waved yellow flags which means extreme caution, and be prepared to stop. For Bianchi to leave the corner at the speed it appears he did may suggest he wasn't ready to stop or exercising extreme caution.

Not entirely sure of F1 protocol but in UK club racing there is also at least one sector under static yellow flags before the "incident" sector which is covered with waved yellow flags, so an advanced warning is given.

The yellow flags are supplemented by yellow lights in the car, yellow lights on the track, plus the team is likely to have told him over the radio (safety message), so it is unlikely he didn't know of the situation at that corner.

For me, Bianchi should have been going slower; I have concerns about professional drivers' attitude in general to yellow flags and incident management.

For example, there has been plenty of moaning from World Endurance Car drivers about the "slow zones" used in the likes of Le Mans to control speeds past accidents or stranded cars. It is seen by these drivers as a total inconvenience, they don't really seem to think of the volunteer marshals it is protecting, not to mention actually protecting the drivers themselves from harm.

Thanks for that Martin.

Very well put Martin.  MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!

Martin wrote:

Not entirely sure of F1 protocol but in UK club racing there is also at least one sector under static yellow flags before the "incident" sector which is covered with waved yellow flags, so an advanced warning is given.

Some years ago (well about 40 actually!) I got involved Marshalling at the RAC National Kart Races at Aintree circuit.
I had raced karts for a few years beforehand and never had so much as a scratch, anyway, my parents were on at me to do something 'safer', so I did!

Anyway, we were at a post on Railway Straight and there had been an accident on the next corner, with waved yellow flag, from our post we could not see the next post due to there being 300, 200 and 100 yard marker boards on the infield, so I had to step out from behind the post (which was basically a breezeblock wall about 4ft high or so) about 6 feet towards the track edge (which was still about 10 feet away) to see the next marshals post and hold the steady yellow flag.

My mate shouted me, I turned round to see a kart on the grass snaking towards me at about 100mph! I tried to jump out of the way but the back tyre caught my instep on my left foot, next thing I know I am in the air with the bottom half of my leg spinning wildly!

I was taken straight to Walton hospital in Liverpool with a badly fracture tibia and fibula and spent the next 10 months in a full leg plaster!

So Motor Sport IS dangerous, maybe I was at fault for moving out from the marshalls post, maybe it was the karter trying to squeeze down a non existant gap, maybe it was the marker boards (which, strangely were relocated to the OUTSIDE of the circuit a few months later..)

Anyway, my leg healed, its a bit shorter than my right one but doesnt really affect me, apart from I tend to walk in anti-clockwise circles