The F1 thread

TeleMaster

I’m a very very casual fan. But is this Grosjean fella crashing and causing a lot of incidents?

stickyfiddle

TeleMaster said:

I’m a very very casual fan. But is this Grosjean fella crashing and causing a lot of incidents?

I tell you what, I do like Romain quite a lot, but this seems a fitting way for him to bow out... 

thumpingrug

TeleMaster said:

I’m a very very casual fan. But is this Grosjean fella crashing and causing a lot of incidents?

No, he' s not a driver with a reputation for crashes.  This one will be analysed endlessly.  It was on a straight, he jinked right and clipped  another car causing him to lose control.    The other car may have been in his blind spot.  he may have jinked right due to a car to his left that had gone off track and was returning into his space, or due to some flying debris from another incident.  We may never know, but its will be speculated upon for months.

Teetonetal

Just saw the highlights this morning. Lucky fella indeed and a vindication of the halo.

sinbaadi

thumpingrug said:

TeleMaster said:

I’m a very very casual fan. But is this Grosjean fella crashing and causing a lot of incidents?

No, he' s not a driver with a reputation for crashes.  This one will be analysed endlessly.  It was on a straight, he jinked right and clipped  another car causing him to lose control.    The other car may have been in his blind spot.  he may have jinked right due to a car to his left that had gone off track and was returning into his space, or due to some flying debris from another incident.  We may never know, but its will be speculated upon for months.

Actually he does have a bit of a reputation for it, in my opinion.  In this case I think he moved across to attack up the inside into the next corner.  Entirely his own fault but the consequences far outweigh the mistake.

Cols

That was a horrific accident.  If it weren’t for the halo, Grosjean would’ve almost certainly been decapitated.

There’s a fair few questions to be answered before the next race, not least of which is why the barrier failed and how long it would’ve taken the marshals to extract Grosjean if he hadn’t managed to get himself out.  Haas and the FIA will be very interested to find out why the car snapped in two, and what caused the fire.

PC_Dave

Cols said:

That was a horrific accident.  If it weren’t for the halo, Grosjean would’ve almost certainly been decapitated.

There’s a fair few questions to be answered before the next race, not least of which is why the barrier failed and how long it would’ve taken the marshals to extract Grosjean if he hadn’t managed to get himself out.  Haas and the FIA will be very interested to find out why the car snapped in two, and what caused the fire.

I’m sure Dr Ian (on Channel 4) said the car is designed to do that - the safety cell was completely intact. Not sure about the fuel - I don’t think that is ever going to be completely safe due to the volatile nature of it.

TimmyO

sweepy said:

Still a suspiciously large fire considering the fuel cut off valves and fuel cells design . I think there might be some serious investigation into the structural integrity of the HAAS tub 

I don’t know. I think once the front of the car has been ‘grabbed’ then the next most likely thing is the chassis splits - the engine is the heavy bit and it’s going to want to keep barrelling on out of sheer momentum. The angle it all happened at is odd too, so breaking apart where it’s joined - probably not so odd.

in a former life I was at the crash site of a Harrier where the engine wasn’t visible from the fuselage - the engine had ripped itself from its mounts and carried on in the direction of travel and over a slight rise.

dazzajl

Now that we’re all looking at this having seen Romain smiling at us in his video, there is much to be very thankful for. The way all the safety elements of the car and driver protection systems worked has been incredible. To see a driver sat in the medical car and talking just moments after the most horrific crash in decades is a true tribute to some fabulous work by the FIA and the teams. 

It’s also pretty clear that barrier technology is a long way behind the cars in how it protects the drivers and hopefully what will be learnt now will bring some big advances there too. 

Cols

PC_Dave said:

Cols said:

That was a horrific accident.  If it weren’t for the halo, Grosjean would’ve almost certainly been decapitated.

There’s a fair few questions to be answered before the next race, not least of which is why the barrier failed and how long it would’ve taken the marshals to extract Grosjean if he hadn’t managed to get himself out.  Haas and the FIA will be very interested to find out why the car snapped in two, and what caused the fire.

I’m sure Dr Ian (on Channel 4) said the car is designed to do that - the safety cell was completely intact. Not sure about the fuel - I don’t think that is ever going to be completely safe due to the volatile nature of it.

Kind of; but according to Wolff the rear should break off with the engine, and not the engine staying on the chassis.

stickyfiddle

Yes, while it looks bad, in a crash like that I'm guessing you actually want the engine separate from the driver as that reduces the total energy involved in the part of the crash that carries the human. In this case I'm assuming the front of the car got wedged into the barrier, which almost acted as a pivot, and the rear section was wrenched off as momentum kept carrying it forward and to the left.

What scares me far more is that if he'd been going only fractionally slower he'd have been wedged with the upper section of the barrier directly over the Halo and stopping him getting out. They've got to be asking some serious questions about using that sort of armco anywhere you could ever have a head-one impact like that one. 

Brio

They've got to be asking some serious questions about using that sort of armco anywhere you could ever have a head-one impact like that one. 

That is pretty much every part of every circuit as there is no way anyone would expect someone to drive at that angle into the Armco.

skullfunkerry

I was looking through his instagram this morning, and this post got me right in the feels, with what could have happened:

chillidoggy

It stopped me mid-sip of Kentish Brewery Prohibition ale. Very pleased to see Romain walk away, and also 
Lance Stroll. A reminder to everyone that motorsport is dangerous, as it always says on the entry tickets.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Pietro Fittipaldi confirmed as Grosjean's replacement for this weekend. Nice to see a legendary name return to the grid. I guess most people thought the next famous name to reappear on the grid would be young Mick Schumacher, but good luck to Pietro...

Romain Grosjean to sit out Sakhir GP and be replaced by Pietro Fittipaldi | F1 News (skysports.com)

Seems a bit daft that they hadn't at least given him a run out in an FP1 at any Grand Prix this year, just to give him some experience of the car. Especially in these Covid times...

Cols

Nice to see the Fittipaldi name back in F1, but does young Pietro actually have the necessary superlicence?

chillidoggy

Putting the Grojean incident aside for now, presumably Albion has now done enough to keep his seat. Did RedBull say they would make the decision after Bahrain?

stickyfiddle

Fuck knows re Albion. He was only 3rd because Perez exploded and Bottas had another shocker. If Aston, McLaren or Ferrari get their shit together next year he won’t get close to the podium again.

I’d still give Checo the seat - he’s been fantastic this year

Cols

Can’t see this weekend saving Albon’s hide. 

If you just look at the results it looks good; podium place, and only 6 seconds behind his team mate at the chequered flag. That’s what Red Bull want, right?

Except, as @stickyfiddle pointed out, he only got on the podium as a result of the misfortune of Bottas (puncture) and Perez (engine failure).  And the only reason he was so close to Verstappen at the finish was because Max had stopped for fresh tyres to have a crack at fastest lap.  If not for this, he would’ve been half a minute down the road.

The rest of the weekend was business as usual or worse; overdriving throughout practice and qualifying, 0.6s off Max as normal, and putting the car in the wall on Friday.

I like Albon and think he deserves to be in F1, but he’s not cutting it against Max at the minute.

stickyfiddle

Cols said:

I like Albon and think he deserves to be in F1, but he’s not cutting it against Max at the minute.

+1. 

Given how much every junior driver post-Max has struggled I'd be quite confident giving Tsunoda another year in F2, put Albon back at AT with Gasly to really see which of those is quicker, and put Perez in the RB seat. Worst case you end up with multiple drivers all worthy of RB again in 12 months' time, but chances are you'll have a good idea of who is slowest too, and put Tsunoda in their place - or move the quicker AT guy back to RB if the slow guy is Checo (which it won't be). 

In other news, I thought Sainz drove a blinder yesterday. I really hope he does well at Ferrari. Ricciardo also continuing to make Ocon look slow. I seriously can't wait to see how he does at a Seidl-led McLaren Mercedes next year.