F1/Bianchi

[Red Herring]

I'm sure if we used all the technology available to us we could make it virtually impossible for drivers to crash, however that will then leave millions of people with the problem of looking for something else to watch on a Sunday afternoon.....

[rowdy]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

Surely in a multi million pound sport full of top drivers we should be able to trust them to slow down and not crash when not actually racing...?

True up to a point, in normal dry clear conditions this is usually the case. However, in the rain drivers have spray to contend with. At the beginning of the race Hamilton radio contacted his team asking them to relay a message to rosberg in front not to do anything silly while they were behind the safety car, because he couldn't see anything in front of him, and could barely make out his tail light.
I have not looked at the pitstop data so do not know when Bianchi last pitted for fresh rubber, but we know he was still on inters.
When Button pitted to change inters for a fresh set of inters, the guys from perelli checked them and came to the conclusion that they had plenty of life left in them, apparently mclaren put them back in the tyre warmers in case they were needed again.
It is possible this information was relayed to the other teams, and possible that Bianchi had been on his inters for a long time. Button is notoriously smooth so his tyres could have been in a lot better shape than many other drivers tyres.
So, if Bianchi did have spray to contend with, if his inters were worn badly, he would only of had to hit some standing water and it wouldn't matter if he had slowed there would be a great chance of aqua planing.
There will always be human error at some stage, I just think that if they have to bring diggers on to the track there must be something that can be done to make them a little safer if things do go wrong.

[NTECUK]

So what you gonna wrap the poor marshal up in. Even if it was the Michelin man. Being hit from the car it's likely gonna be curtains for them.

[rowdy]

Some aspects just can't be made any safer, those that can be should.

Have looked at pitstop data, Bianchi last pitted on lap 24. The only drivers on older rubber were chilton and vergne.

Edit: at that point in time, others had gone longer stints but pitted as or before conditions deteriorated.

[Red Herring]

Seems like the FIA think like some of you..... talking about fitting cars with a means of slowing them down when yellow flags are out, and fitting "skirts" to recovery vehicles!

Another example of modern ideology, one individual gets it wrong so everybody else has to be dumbed down to their level.

[Trev B]

Surely the speed on the approach to an accident like this could be dropped down using the speed limiter they use in the pit lanes,may have to use a different colour flag or some sort of device to make drivers aware of activating it to avoid rear end shunts,but as it's the same speed for all without using the pace car!!!

[NTECUK]

How about disqualifying the cars that don't slow under the caution flags.
They would soon wise up to it then.

[Red Herring]

You would have to make it work on a percentage drop in speed rather than a set speed in order to allow for all the different circumstances where it would be needed.

Every F1 driver knows when they have slowed down enough to be 100% sure they are not going to crash off the circuit, which is what they should be doing under a waved yellow. Double waved yellows, as we had in this case, mean slow down enough to be able to stop, and Jules clearly hadn't done that, so this is a case of driver error. There are already several ways the FIA have of knowing they are not slowing down enough and of punishing them accordingly. All that is needed is for the FIA to enforce the current rules, not invent new ways of making drivers comply with them.

[littleoldman2]

Couldn't agree more RH.

The drivers in F1 are acknowledged to to be amongst the very best in the world. They therefore should not be in a situation were they are out of control when instructed to slow down and be prepared to stop. If I were to be unkind I could say that it's selfish of such highly skilled drivers to place the marshals in danger by driving in such a fashion.

[rowdy]

I agree RH, but on the same token I also think the likes of Wayne Rooney, paid hundreds of thousands a week, should put the ball in the back of the net every chance he gets.

Thing is, years ago an accident like this would happen you would see one or two drivers stop, get out and try and help. Nowadays, every tenth of a second matters, and drivers will admit that if a yellow flag is raised, they will only lift as little as possible in order to lose as little time as possible.