Hope Jules is ok

Doesn't look good this - over 2 hours and still nothing heard  :(

There isn't any footage of it, is there? I only remember seeing Sutil walking out of the car, then seeing the medic car which initially confused me as Sutil was walking. Then heard about Jules.

It wasn't broadcast when live no. You saw Sutil's car after it had spun and heading towards the barrier. After that... nothing.

 

Not sure I'd want to see it anyway to be honest. There hasn't been a fatal accident in F1 since Ayrton, and that was a freak accident. Goes to show how far driver safety has come for such a high speed sport over the years. Some questions need to be raised over the lack of a safety car considering both the weather conditions and the location of Sutil's crash.

Latest news is that he is undergoing surgery and that his condition is 'very serious'. Not good :(

Pictures show what an impact.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781081/BREAKING-NEWS-Formula-1-star-seriously-injured-crashing-tractor-race-hit-heavy-rain.html

The whole top intake/roll bar section behind the driver looks almost non existent.

Hopefully because drivers sit so low down these days he'll be OK.

Reported to be a serious head injury.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29496295

Pictures show what an impact.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2781081/BREAKING-NEWS-Formula-1-star-seriously-injured-crashing-tractor-race-hit-heavy-rain.html

The whole top intake/roll bar section behind the driver looks almost non existent.

Hopefully because drivers sit so low down these days he'll be OK.

It looks like the Marussia has gone under the back end of the recovery 'digger' where the underside is angled.

There's a clear side in pic on Twitter, not sure about posting it up though, but there isn't much car above his helmet height, and the whole side pod is gone.

There's a clear side in pic on Twitter, not sure about posting it up though, but there isn't much car above his helmet height, and the whole side pod is gone.

I've seen it and it is quite shocking; car is an utter wreck but his helmet seems to be reasonably intact although you cannot see the detail too clearly. Nothing left of the car above the cockpit that is a real concern.

Not seeing the other side and any helmet damage though.

As above seems to have gone under the back of the tractor.

Really hope he's ok

Very odd from the BBC Broadcast team prattling on for ages and not knowing about the Jules Bianchi crash right up to after the race was Red Flagged and the drivers out of the car.

 

All my best wishes for Jules Bianchi.

As has been the case with the BBC stuff recently, if they didn't see it, it didn't happen.

I remember then talking about one of the drivers wearing glasses. Was it Bianchi?

No... Gutierrez has taken to wearing glasses.


The Sky team didn't initially know that someone else was involved, but then slowly started to spot that something had gone seriously wrong when the medical car came out despite Sutil being well out of the car.


This after Martin Brundle discussing his almost identical accident at the same corner in 1994.

Just read that the telemetry recorded the crash at almost 50G

Any more info on Bianchi?

Out of surgery and 'breathing on his own'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29499545

Out of surgery and 'breathing on his own'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29499545

 

Wish this was true but has been dismissed by officials as inaccurate he is still on a ventilator and critical unfortunately.

Lots of stories flying around at the moment. Did notice lots who were shouting for them to race when it was safety car at the start are the same ones blaming the FIA for it. Think a few yesterday learnt the cold reality that motorsport is dangerous. Says so on the back of every ticket and drivers know this when they race. It's just an unfortunate accident. But he had the best safety gear and in the best possible hands.

Just read that the telemetry recorded the crash at almost 50G

 

Yes and the Marussia struck the tractor with sufficient force to lift it into the air and rotate it, dropping the Sauber (which was being lifted for recovery) onto the ground. Really was a horrific crash.

 

Prayers to Jules and his family.

 

 

 

 

 

Any more info on Bianchi?

 

The statement from the FIA:

 

On lap 42, Adrian Sutil lost control of his car, spun and hit the tyre barrier on the outside of Turn 7. The marshals displayed double waved yellow flags before the corner to warn drivers of the incident. A recovery vehicle was despatched in order to lift the car and take it to a place of safety behind the guardrail. While this was being done the driver of car 17, Jules Bianchi, lost control of his car, travelled across the run-off area and hit the back of the tractor.

Once the marshals reported that the driver was injured, medical teams were despatched and the Safety Car was deployed. These were followed by an extrication team and an ambulance.

The driver was removed from the car, taken to the circuit medical centre and then by ambulance to Mie General Hospital. 

The CT scan shows that he has suffered a severe head injury and he is currently undergoing surgery. Following this he will be moved to intensive care where he will be monitored.

Mie General Hospital will issue an update as soon as further information becomes available. 

 

Yikes didn't realise it did that to the tractor!

Loads if people on Twitter were complaining at the pics being shared of the medical team at work around the car. One woman called it "sick" wh n a safe sport has an incident, until someone tweeted her the bottom of a Japanese GP ticket that says "Motorsport can be dangerous", then she deleted her tweets and made her profile secret.

Just seen the video of it.

Horrific.

Just seen the video of it.

Horrific.

 

Indeed, it is. Very.

What I hadn't realised until I saw the video is that Bianchi went in nose first, whereas Sutil had reversed off the track the lap before. Also the speed he was doing when he hit the tractor looked much, much faster - hence the scale of his injuries. As Vettel put it (paraphrased) - unlucky place and unlucky time to have an accident.

 

Major accidents in F1 are so rare these days that it's difficult to know what measures should be implemented to reduce the chances of something similar. Maybe the tractors will need to be fitted with crash absorption barriers in future?

In GT racing, they have a new thing where they are saying when you drive past an incident, you must be on the pit limiter. This removes the need for safety cars as you must be slowed down to go past. The amount of electrical gubbins in these things should be able to set that up.

Things are not that bad in comparison, this was a very unlucky events during conditions that were not ideal.

People say the race should have been moved, or stopped, but if you begin to take that action then f1 will be like nascar who don't race in the wet. It's a danger that all the drivers accept, hence why they were saying it was fine to race at the start.

Sure there are things to be learned, but it's not practical to have several massive cranes to reach every corner at every event. Sure Monaco can manage, but it's not new for them. Snatch vehicles have been used for years and will continue to be so. Maybe some additional bumpers or crash protection could be looked into, but if the speeds in in incident zones are reduced, then I don't see the need.