Formula 1, 2020

[ess1uk]

Is the fuel tank behind the seat?

[PMW]

1 minute ago, ess1uk said:

Is the fuel tank behind the seat?

 

yes, between the driver's seat and the engine.

[Gareth Collier]

Sky have just shown some more. It was only a handful of seconds but tying to get out of that burning car must have seemed a lifetime, it seemed to be watching it.

I am still staggered he got out. It's not even the fire but the cockpit going straight through the barrier. The halo has just saved a drivers life for all those that don't like them.

 

edit: the guy from the medical car that ran into the flames to help him, bloody brave!

Edited November 29, 2020 by Gareth Collier

[Oldddudders]

I haven't seen an instant fire like that in decades. People are talking of Berger's crash years ago, and he also survived. I also recall Lorenzo Bandini losing his life at Monaco more than 50 years ago. Grosjean has some burns and maybe a broken rib or two. Wonderful that he has survived. But the medical car guys were on it. Driver and doctor on the scene, including deploying extinguisher, within seconds. The best has been done.

 

But the safety design - and crash-testing - of F1 cars will be under the microscope. 

[Gareth Collier]

Now Lance is at it!

[didcot]

It was truly horrible to watch it unfold. Thankfully Grosean appears to be ok. The medical car guys are the heroes of the day rushing in to help Grosean. Let's not forget they don't have full face masks or the same fire suits. 

Thank God for the Halo!

[jcredfer]

Did Mad Max manage to achieve his fastest lap point, it rather got lost after he went in for the third time to get better tyres for the attempt?

 

There wasn't anything in the commentary, as the second fire took the attention, a little.  I assumed that he didn't get a full enough opportunity, but it may have got lost in the other events.

 

Julian

 

[Oldddudders]

Max got fastest lap on lap 48. But I think he had held it for much of the latter part of the race, anyway. 

[Oldddudders]

Romain remains in hospital overnight, a propos the burns to his hands. 

[jcredfer]

36 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Max got fastest lap on lap 48. But I think he had held it for much of the latter part of the race, anyway. 

 

Thank you, very grateful, the commentary I saw missed that out, for some reason - despite commenting on the likelihood that he would make the attempt.  Second place points will make the last races a bit more interesting.

 

Julian

 

[Gareth Collier]

Great to see Grosjean has posted up a video on the Haas F1 FB page from his hospital bed. Seems remarkably cheerful and just burns to the back of his hands and no broken bones.

[EddieB]

Glad and relieved that both Grosjean and Stroll were able to walk away.  If the flames weren’t bad enough, seeing the Haas car in two pieces, one half having passed through the barrier makes Grosjean’s escape all the more remarkable.

 

Not a good time to be watching the C4 highlights while checking for news on Jimenez after a serious clash of heads in the footie, and then learning of the death of Diop at the tender age of 42.

 

Hope things are little quieter next week.

[Andrew P]

C4 Just show Grosjean in Hospital sitting with both hands bandaged and saying he was against the Halo, but today it saved his life, what a good ending for the program.

[Night Train]

Dr Ian Roberts has balls of steel. Much respect for what he did.

 

[newbryford]

24 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Dr Ian Roberts has balls of steel. Much respect for what he did.

 

 

 

And all the others directly involved in those scary few minutes.

 

[Oldddudders]

I saw a brief clip of a shell-shocked Günther Steiner thanking Alan Van Der Merwe. The latter almost shrugged, as if it were all in a day's work! He and Dr Roberts were like coiled springs in their reactions. 

[Andrew P]

9 hours ago, Night Train said:

Dr Ian Roberts has balls of steel. Much respect for what he did.

 

Now there's a man who deserves at least an MBE, or even an equivalent from the French Government.

EDIT = See post below from Paul, @PaulRhB, and my reply.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Andrew P

[Andrew P]

7 hours ago, Night Train said:

Dr Ian Roberts has balls of steel. Much respect for what he did.

 

I think that Armco will be a NO NO from now on, and also had there been Gravel between the Track and the Barrier would it have slowed the car down a bit?

[PaulRhB]

14 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Now there's a man who deserves at least an MBE, or even an equivalent from the French Government.

On a personal note I don’t think such an award should be given for it just because it’s seen on tv when Fire & Rescue crews do it regularly without being similarly awarded. Certainly an award from the FIA / F1 and GPDA would be appropriate but not national honours as it would be unfair on others who do such work out of the glare of tv cameras. 

[Andrew P]

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

On a personal note I don’t think such an award should be given for it just because it’s seen on tv when Fire & Rescue crews do it regularly without being similarly awarded. Certainly an award from the FIA / F1 and GPDA would be appropriate but not national honours as it would be unfair on others who do such work out of the glare of tv cameras. 

Yeah, I hadn't thought of it like that Paul, you are right of course.

[Hroth]

An amazing spectacle yesterday, 3 major incidents including a crash and fire, a car being flipped upside down and an engine letting go and catching fire.

 

One can only applaud the fire and rescue crews for doing their jobs so effectively, and the advances in car safety and driver protection, in particular the engineering that produced the halo frames and the racing suits that almost certainly prevented on track fatalities or life changing injuries.

 

Hope we don't see anything like that again anytime soon.

 

There was a race too?

Who won? *

 

* These are not serious questions.... 

 

 

Edited November 30, 2020 by Hroth
Spelin an such...

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

I think that Armco will be a NO NO from now on, and also had there been Gravel between the Track and the Barrier would it have slowed the car down a bit?

 

It would have needed a lot of gravel to slow that car down!

I don't think anyone envisaged that there would be an incident such as that in that particular location.

 

From my understanding, Armco is good at deflecting objects approaching from an angle, but near head on is another thing. 

I expect to see that section with tekpro (sp?) and a tyre wall at next week's race.

 

[EddieB]

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

I think that Armco will be a NO NO from now on, and also had there been Gravel between the Track and the Barrier would it have slowed the car down a bit?

The question is whether there was complete structural integrity in the Armco to begin with.  Apparently there are cut-outs in some sections for the placement of cameras, which could compromise the whole section.  There needs to be a full investigation as it should have held and been able to absorb much of the energy.  Certainly not to have sliced the car in two.

 

When the circuit was designed, there was clearly no anticipation that that kind of incident could happen at that spot.  The primary problem, as I see it, is that there was insufficient run-off and the barrier was too close to the track.  With that layout, a barrier of any composition - Armco, concrete or tyre-wall - would be unsafe when impacted at race speed.

 

With such a short run-off, I don’t think gravel, treacle or anything else could have slowed the car down significantly.  Bear in mind that Grosjean was accelerating across the track when he clipped Kvyat and the aerial footage shows he didn’t hit the brakes until a few feet away from the barriers.  Apparently the impact was equivalent to 53G.

 

I’m just thankful that lessons are being learned and for all the improvements to safety.  Even so, the post-race driver interviews about the incident were telling - showing as much in their eyes as in what they said.

 

 

[Pete the Elaner]

36 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

It would have needed a lot of gravel to slow that car down!

I don't think anyone envisaged that there would be an incident such as that in that particular location.

 

From my understanding, Armco is good at deflecting objects approaching from an angle, but near head on is another thing. 

I expect to see that section with tekpro (sp?) and a tyre wall at next week's race.

 

 

Gravel causes cars to spin & get stuck. Run-offs are designed to prevent this, but will we see a return to large gravel traps?

Grosjean hit the barrier at an unexpected angle for 2 reasons: It was jutting out to accommodate a service road & the collision (with Kvyat) caused him to exit the track more sideways than expected at this point of the track.

 

Tyre walls: We don't see so many of these now. Why?

Because they have caused cars to bounce back onto the track into the paths of cars travelling at high speed. This would have been ok yesterday because Grosjean had fallen to the back of the pack, but what if Hamilton or Verstappen had gone into it after colliding? This could have wiped out almost the entire field.

I don't think there is a solution without issues but I am sure the FIA & drivers committee will re-assess the best compromise.

[iak]

Scary stuff. 

Years ago, we would have had a horror show - thankfully, the modern safety protocols appear to have worked.

I do question the ARMCO not having that crash impact stuff in front of it.

The car splitting in two simply shouldn't have happened.  That is in need of very serious investigation.