F1 2014 Japanese Grand Prix

[AMSKRR 3]

A triple post! What is this madness?

[alonsofan46 0]

AMS97KRR said:

A triple post! What is this madness?

It's #sweg 

[f1since08 60]

Alonsofan is right. Stop posting pictures.

It was, whilst it was active, a very good race. The Safety Car could've been called in sooner I felt. Hamilton's move was mega.

As for the helicopter, Ted Kravitz said in the notebook that it doesn't always have to be able to fly, so long as a police escorted ambulance can get to the hospital in a certain time limit.

I really hope Jules is OK.

[couger1981 89]

Salo reporting it was a blow to the head from the impact :(

Edit: Hamilton defends Safety car decision

F1 times

[onetwothree 0]

Under normal circumstances, I'd agree with Lewis. We see this all the time where someone goes off in a (relatively) dangerous position and all it takes are double-waved yellows to clear it, then we're back racing, but with these decisions, you can never be too cautious. Most cars at the time were on inters, definitely not suitable rubber for the conditions and at a corner where known to have caused a fair amount of overshoots. In conditions like today, I believe if at any point, a person has to step into the controlled area of the track, there should be a safety car. It might be an inconvenience to the audience, it might decide a race or even a championship, but we're talking about people's lives here. You hear Martin Brundle talking about it all the time, how he sometimes fears about the manner in which a car is being recovered, and unfortunately, it happened today.

[AMSKRR 3]

If it was dry, then there was no need for a SC, but looking at the conditions and tyres as you said, it had to be a SC really. 

A really poor decision that may have cost a life.

[alonsofan46 0]

I feel sorry for Sutil as well. Although I'm sure none of us here blame him , he'll probably feel guilty about it.

[f1since08 60]

https://twitter.com/SBSRadioSport/status/518712313126219776

[Jiggy 5]

I don't want to blame anyone. Sometimes things happened through extreme bad luck. I don't have much hope for Bianchi to be honest, but I'd love a positive surprise.

[alonsofan46 0]

No more updates for 24 hours either apparently. 

[AMSKRR 3]

Looks like he has a severe head injury. Doubt he'll ever race again, if he does survive :(

[couger1981 89]

All drivers at the hospital, they might miss their flight out before the typhoon hits.

[onetwothree 0]

I don't think he'll ever race again. I mean, look at Kubica who didn't even have a head injury.

[f1since08 60]

couger1981 said:

All drivers at the hospital, they might miss their flight out before the typhoon hits.

I don't think that's on their priorities at the moment.

On a different note, does anyone know why the cars were brought into the pits for the red flags?

[MATT 23]

https://twitter.com/BBCSport/status/518727191849611264
Official statement from the FIA.

[f1since08 60]

I'm hoping that this will end up like Massa, out for the rest of the season but back next year. It'd be a massive shame If he cannot race again.

[GoldenColt 1]

Autosprint with the most useful photo so far...

http://autosprint.corrieredellosport.it/2014/10/05/bianchi-quelle-polemiche/19389/

[MBKF1 91]

Well I'm obviously shocked and very upset with what happened to Bianchi, but I'm gonna post a race review as I would do because up until then it was a fantastic Grand Prix.

It was definitely right to start the race behind the Safety Car and again, I think right to stop it when they did. Then when they got underway again I felt the SC was out for two or three laps too long. A lot of the drivers were saying it was good to go and some even saying it was good enough for inters (as Button proved). That was great to see Jenson up at the front again, and then from there it was good, with battles throughout the field and some supreme overtakes. I was especially impressed at Vettel's move on Massa I think it was at the hairpin. Fantastic, same with Ricciardo on Massa, incredible, and I was obviously very pleased when Lewis passed Nico for the lead!

Then Sutil went off and to be honest, I wasn't surprised the safety car wasn't called out then because with double waved yellows I thought the crane would have been able to get it away pretty swiftly. Then Bianchi slid off obviously and then I was really anxious. All the reports circling around about what may have happened, and I haven't felt like I did since Kovalainen's Spain crash in 2008 and Kubica's Canada crash in 2007. Just a sickly feeling. 

As Matt said, I think the way the drivers were on the podium was very good, very professional, but I don't know why the champagne music was played. Then it was revealed that he did hit the tractor and he was taken to hospital, and now he has severe head injuries. I hope and pray that he pulls through this, I really hope he can make a full recovery.

Felipe Massa said that it was ridiculous to start the race today but I don't agree with him there. It may have been a better decision to start the race earlier on in the day, and they probably should have looking at it now, but the conditions were not absolutely treacherous, as they ran on inters for the majority of the race.

Come on Jules.

[MBKF1 91]

Oh my, I've just seen a picture and the entire roll hoop of his car has gone, you can see the engine, and the top part of the car (above the leg area) is damaged.

This really doesn't look good :(

[Hughesy 254]

Has anyone seen the picture of the car? The whole of the roll hoop is gone from behind his head. I feel sick right now and pray he's ok. I've always hated tractors collecting the cars. If they have to use them, then imo they should have to slow down to the pit lane speed or something. I'm surprised with all the safety in F1 they haven't developed a better vehicle to collect the cars.

[couger1981 89]

Bianchi's operation is finished he is not on life support :)

http://twitter.com/F1grid/status/518758067534856192

[Hughesy 254]

couger1981 said:

Bianchi's operation is finished he is not on life support :)

http://twitter.com/F1grid/status/518758067534856192

Until I hear an offical response from the team I'll ignore some random Twitter account. The team have said when there's an update they will tell us, I'm not saying that tweet is wrong, but it's not from an offical source.

[f1since08 60]

@JensonBottom  That was a sick joke.

Apparently Bianchi is breathing on his own, good news after the car looked like a kayak.

[Hughesy 254]

fIsince08 said:

@JensonBottom  That was a sick joke.

Apparently Bianchi is breathing on his own, good news after the car looked like a kayak.

Like I said in my post above, until it's from the team or an offical source I'll ignore those tweets. I do hope it's true though.

[Syn 2]

VetteIfan said:

AMS97KRR said:

I really hope, even if he cannot race, he comes out of this as a "Normal" guy again.

I really don't think you could have phrased that any worse. 

Maybe not the greatest of wording, but we all know what he's trying to say. I too hope he is able to come out of this and race again, but if not, I at least hope he is conscious and eventually able to move about on his own, speak, etc.