Jules Bianchi

This forum gives you a chance to be able to communicate with your fellow F1 fans.
Post Reply
User avatar
shumif1
car driver
car driver
Posts: 11
Joined: 24 Nov 2013, 22:09

Jules Bianchi

Post by shumif1 » 07 Oct 2014, 01:55

Just want to pray for Jules Bianchi . I saw the video ,OMG, his car lifted the back end of the tractor up in the air. My thoughts and prayers are with him. :pray:

User avatar
Ferrariman60
F1 Routinier
F1 Routinier
Posts: 4542
Joined: 01 Jan 2009, 20:55
Contact:

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by Ferrariman60 » 07 Oct 2014, 04:11

Of course, prayers and well wishes are with Jules and his family.

For this new thread, however, I propose that we first establish what we know at the moment, so that further discussion can develop in a manner befitting the fluidity of this situation, as well as respecting the dignity of Bianchi, his family, and all involved or implicated in this unfortunate and stunning accident.

We know that the driver of Marussia number 17, Jules Bianchi, was seriously injured in a crash on lap 44 of the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, held at the Suzuka Circuit. The race had been affected by intermittent heavy rain showers, started behind the safety car, red flagged, and subsequently resumed upon improved track conditions.

In the closing laps of the race, rain returned and gradually intensified. On lap 43, the number 99 Sauber of Adrian Sutil left the circuit at the fast sweeping left hand Dunlop curve and impacted tire barriers on the far right of the track. The incident was tended to by marshals operating a large construction-type tractor in order to remove the damaged Sauber from the run off zone. The area was covered by double waved-yellow flags. One lap later, on lap 44, the Marussia of Jules Bianchi also left the circuit at Dunlop curve and traveled in an out of control manner toward the area where marshals were working to retrieve Sutil's car. Bianchi's car then impacted the left rear side of the tractor in a nose-first fashion, passing underneath the rear of the vehicle to a distance at least equal to the chassis centerline, as photographic evidence shows the roll hoop, snorkel, and all other superior bodywork to be apparently shorn away from the top of the Marussia chassis. The race was red flagged and declared completed within two laps after the incident.

Bianchi was immediately attended to by marshals and circuit medical and extrication staff, who removed him from his car and assessed his immediate condition. Bianchi was then transported to the circuit medical center, then to a local hospital in the Mie Prefecture near the Suzuka Circuit. Bianchi was apparently unconscious immediately following the accident, as he did not respond to team radio, and he was reported to be unconscious at the crash site.

The precise nature and extent of Bianchi's injuries are unknown to the public at this moment, but it is known that they are being described as "very serious" and that the Frenchman has undergone at least one surgery, although many outlets are reporting that he underwent a second surgery as well. His condition is presently described as "critical, but stable."

I hope this summary of events as they currently stand serve to aid discussion on this thread. Please offer more insights to supplement and/or correct anything I have said here. To my knowledge, this is accurate as of the time of posting.
Requiescat in pace, Jules Bianchi


Ferrariman60

User avatar
François
F1 Driver
F1 Driver
Posts: 1479
Joined: 05 Sep 2009, 18:39

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by François » 07 Oct 2014, 09:13

Bianchi's parents arrived at the hospital yesterday evening. They were followed today by Pr. Gérard Saillant (a surgeon deeply involved in professional sport) and Nicolas Todt (Bianchi's manager), with whom they will discuss the situation before speaking to the press.

Meanwhile, FIA president Jean Todt has asked race director Charlie Whiting to conduct an investigation on the accident. I would rather not comment on that here, as I have already made my feelings about Whiting and the FIA's response abundantly clear in earlier posts.

User avatar
phil1993
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 25503
Joined: 29 Sep 2007, 17:32
Contact:

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by phil1993 » 07 Oct 2014, 14:17


User avatar
Treacle
GP2 Driver
GP2 Driver
Posts: 442
Joined: 02 Jan 2012, 17:33
Location: Budapest

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by Treacle » 07 Oct 2014, 20:06

With all due respect to Bianchi, and hoping he will pull through and be able to live a full life...
I think this article is right in a way:
http://formerf1doc.wordpress.com/2014/10/07/2271/
"Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."

User avatar
François
F1 Driver
F1 Driver
Posts: 1479
Joined: 05 Sep 2009, 18:39

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by François » 07 Oct 2014, 21:07

With all due respect to the writer, it's absurd talk. Racing drivers approach safety restrictions in terms of minimizing time loss - look at how they brake before the pit speed limit zone - because it is racing, every little counts. Why shouldn't the governing body take a clear stance on the amount of slowing down required? Why leave such an important matter open to each driver's individual appreciation? It's a competition and obviously you don't want to lose more than the next guy does - so why refuse to just make everyone lose the same amount? What Hartstein reveals is that drivers wanted such a compromise, which the FIA never granted them. In such a highly controlled environment as F1, the gray area that was left is preposterous. Any talk of "deteriorating flag discipline" will have to address the fact that the FIA failed to properly enforce its own regulations.

Telemetry will show whether Jules carried "too much speed" into that corner - what I've read seems to indicate that he hit the apex with 10 km/h less than other backmarker cars.

"Be prepared to stop", this is the one that gets me the most. Imagine being prepared to stop at the exit of the Dunlop curve, in the wet - how slow would you have to go? It's completely blind and infamously tricky. I suspect the answer may not be too far off Safety Car speed - in which case, at the risk of repeating myself, why not deploy the god damn Safety Car.

Imagine for a second a single driver going through that corner at such reduced speed that he'd be "prepared to stop". Barring specific warnings, other drivers would just ram straight into the back of him, or have to swerve dangerously.

User avatar
Treacle
GP2 Driver
GP2 Driver
Posts: 442
Joined: 02 Jan 2012, 17:33
Location: Budapest

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by Treacle » 08 Oct 2014, 05:50

Well, as I gathered that was his point as well. That Bianchi carried too much speed, because the governing body doesn't properly enforce the meaning of flag signals.
And double yellow does mean be prepared to stop - it just lost its meaning during the years. Exactly because what you state: the drivers want to minimize the lost time and nobody told them that's not the point. I think Hartstein came to the same conclusion as you (or maybe I've read it in the comments), that the speed under yellows shouldn't be left to the guys' judgement...
Your analogy with the pit stop is good, but not precise... They know what to expect in the pitlane, they know where the crew people are. In this case all they knew was the fact that Sutil crashed and there are marshals on track retrieving his car. Their exact location was unknown for the drivers, so they had to approach with caution - hence the double yellow.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think that it was solely Bianchi's fault. But he had to carry a huge speed to crash like that. I also don't rule out that it was unintentional, and a mechanical failure compromised his speed. But that's something we won't know unless they show us the telemetry. However, saying that Bianchi's speed was okay in those circumstances is just as absurd as the fact that they didn't deploy the SC.

The truth is there were a lot of people who made the wrong decision in those circumstances. And those together led to this awful accident. In the rapidly deteriorating weather they never should have let the marshals and the truck on track without an SC. But I can't help thinking that going a few kph slower - when you precisely know there is water on track and one of your mates just spun out - could have resulted in a completely different outcome.

As a last thought, I've read on several sites that Bianchi was going 40 kph faster than Chilton. This is an info I'm not taking for granted, because to my current knowledge they didn't share his telemetry yet.

What matters though is Jules and that he recovers. And it would be great if the FIA took this seriously enough to rethink their approach to the flag signals and deploying the SC.

#ForzaJules
"Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before."

User avatar
François
F1 Driver
F1 Driver
Posts: 1479
Joined: 05 Sep 2009, 18:39

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by François » 12 Oct 2014, 01:42

I've closely followed the updates shared on various French motorsport blogs and the general sentiment is less than encouraging. Prost and others have underlined the gravity of Jules's condition, while apparently Grosjean has let it slip after QLF that he is "losing a friend". J.-L. Moncet reports that Jules underwent another operation on Thursday, the results of which aren't known.

The lack of any positive signs from people who may be "in the know" worries me greatly. I will not further speculate, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for better news in the coming days.


On a different note, the results of the "investigation" conducted by Whiting leave a lot of question marks. The critical question of the tractor's intervention without SC was more or less shrugged off, as according to the FIA "procedure was followed". That procedure was respected makes me think similar circumstances could lead to a similar tragedy, as the people involved with the investigations were seemingly more concerned with denying any wrongdoing than pointing out potential mistakes. What sort of procedure would allow the intervention of a lifting vehicle on the exit of a blind corner where speed exceeds 200 km/h in the wet, claiming that 20-30 meters was "far enough from the track" to allow such an operation? That the FIA won't admit to any wrongdoing there should be of great concern to anybody involved with the sport.

At least no excessive blame was laid on Bianchi, as the data pointed out he did lift for the yellows. He lost the car when his wheels got onto a slightly wetter patch which was probably difficult to see, the same one that caught Sutil out on the previous lap. But instead of spinning, Jules overcorrected and ended up going straight towards the tyre wall.

User avatar
François
F1 Driver
F1 Driver
Posts: 1479
Joined: 05 Sep 2009, 18:39

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by François » 14 Oct 2014, 11:24

Philippe Bianchi has confirmed in an interview that the situation is "desperate", but that Jules will not give up. He has likened his condition to that of Michael Schumacher, remembering that it had taken him several months to wake up from his coma. He also says it is a miracle that he even survived the impact.

Report (ESPN): http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/179861.html


User avatar
iceman1
F1 Legend
F1 Legend
Posts: 23702
Joined: 16 Sep 2006, 15:50
Location: North Pole
Contact:

Re: Jules Bianchi

Post by iceman1 » 15 Oct 2014, 13:20

Interesting. Sport Bild posted an article today saying that Bianchi's speed was 212 km/h compared to 217 km/h to his previous lap before the double yellow flags. They have decided to reveal this detail after Marussia's press release this morning.

http://sportbild.bild.de/formel-1/2014/ ... sport.html
It is also interesting to compare the lap times of Bianchi with his team-mate Max Chilton. Both were almost identical bald tires on the road. Chilton had changed in round 23, so one round earlier than his team-mate on intermediates. On lap 40 Chilton drove a lap time of 1.58.841 minutes, Bianchi 1.57.174 minutes. One lap later, as Sutil's accident happened, Bianchi completed the lap with 1.57.090. Chilton slowed as extreme, drove four seconds slower (2.01.217min). It is also strange that Bianchi in the last two sectors in round 41 suddenly more than three tenths faster driving than the previous round. Even Topautos as the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo with only six laps old intermediate tires went in the round slowly - the Australians almost one second.

Post Reply