Bahrain F1 Gp

[OldBerkshireBoy]

20 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

My only reason is this was very serious. I won't post the result.As yet the race has not re started, is due to soon.

Whilst it was very serious crash Ian, you must understand that the WOW factor that made you post was taken away from others by knowing what was to come.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

2 hours ago, chameleon said:

why? this is not an F1 forum its supposedly about the NORFOLK BROADS

So on that basis there will be no more postings re Firkles, no postings of pictures of new dogs & cats, shotguns, cooking tips at home, corvid and working from home, corvid and family members and so on. 

Every forum has sub forums.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

1 hour ago, psychicsurveyor said:

The medics were outstanding, they got back in the medical car and carried on only to have to deal with two further potentially serious incidents. They appeared very chilled in later interviews.

The medic that pulled Grosjean over the barrier and away had his face slightly burnt and his protective suit was damaged from the heat so that was one brave man to go in and do that plus it was good to see Grosjean sitting up in bed wiggling his fingers around and talking calmly. 

[grendel]

1 hour ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

So on that basis there will be no more postings re Firkles, no postings of pictures of new dogs & cats, shotguns, cooking tips at home, corvid and working from home, corvid and family members and so on. 

Every forum has sub forums.

we do like to keep the balance predominately broads based, but sometimes off topic posts carry human interest.

 

[Paul]

8 hours ago, MauriceMynah said:

Those who watched it live knew what had happened and didn't need to be informed, the ones who would watch the highlights, who wouldn't want to be informed, and those not interested who probably wouldn't read the thread anyway.

Those who watched it live knew what had happened and didn't need to be informed - agreed

the ones who would watch the highlights, who wouldn't want to be informed - also agreed

and those not interested who probably wouldn't read the thread anyway. not the case, as how often do we see people post on a thread to say they are not interested? It has happened here. Either they are not as uninterested as they claim to be or there existence is so sad that they spend their time reading things about which they are genuinely not interested. 

I have long since learned the lesson not to post about these things for a good 48 hours after the fact, to avoid upsetting those who i) watch live, ii) watch highlights, iii) recorded it to watch later and iv) went to the moon and recorded it to watch a week on Thursday. That said the thread title was unambiguous, so if you chose to read it don't complain about what you learned from it. 

Now we have dealt with the circumstances of the thread, what about the circumstances of the accident? My thought was oh no, it's Ronnie Peterson all over again. As I watched it live I had very low hopes of Grosjean surviving. To see him emerge from the flames, largely through his own efforts fifteen seconds later was nothing short of a miracle. Of course we know that the cars are designed to give the drivers every possible chance of surviving an impact, there are features throughout the car that most casual F1 fans would not have heard of, all designed to protect the driver in his cockpit, the proper name of which is "survival cell".

What was not so impressive was the performance of the safety barrier. Armco barriers of this type are not intended for high speed impact at relatively oblique angles. They are designed to arrest and deflect objects which "side swipe" them or to stop objects at low speeds. The barrier was used in this location because it was not on the outside of a corner, and so considered somewhere unlikely to suffer an impact of this kind, but it was not parallel to the track, it bends toward to the track to guard an opening in the barrier through which cars are recovered from the previous corner. If you cast your mind back to 2007 I think it was Robert Kubica suffered a terrible accident at Canada where he too hit a barrier, this time a concrete one which was not parallel to the track, this time a concrete wall at the hairpin. 

It's long overdue that Formula 1 reviewed all tracks which have barriers which angle towards the track and ensure they are redesigned and if they cannot be realigned then they must have impact reducing liners added. There are a number of different types available, the best to my mind is made up of lots of vertical hollow foam tubes designed to absorb impact energy and they have a lower density midway up their height which "catches" the front of the car and holds it level, it sucks it in almost and stops it submarining underneath or flying over the top. It then slows the car in a controlled manner before it hits the barrier. 

Either way something must be done. Romain Grosjean was very lucky on many counts, that he did not lose consciousness in the impact and was able to undo his belts and escape, that the marshals and medical car were on the scene so quickly to get fire extinguisher powder in the right place to give him an escape route, but not least that a) the barrier did not rupture the fuel tank, which is actually more like a bag, and that he was not physically pinned inside his car by the deformed barrier.

 

[grendel]

6 minutes ago, Paul said:

and those not interested who probably wouldn't read the thread anyway. not the case, as how often do we see people post on a thread to say they are not interested? It has happened here. Either they are not as uninterested as they claim to be or there existence is so sad that they spend their time reading things about which they are genuinely not interested. 

and there is the poor fourth group that has to read every thread, our poor long suffering moderator team, that has to read everything because we dont have any other option.

 

[Meantime]

12 minutes ago, grendel said:

and there is the poor fourth group that has to read every thread, our poor long suffering moderator team, that has to read everything because we dont have any other option.

 

The lucky ones you mean 

[Chelsea14Ian]

Paul has made good points about safety  on F1 tracks.Dont think that barrier was the correct one for that part of the track.I really thought  Romain wouldn't  get out of there alive.For sure had he been knocked out,he wouldn't  have  made it.The cars are so well designed  now that gives drivers a good chance of getting  out.The Marshalls got there quickly. The sport  is much safer  now,but hopefully this accident will lead to safer improvements for the future. 

 

[oldgregg]

That was a shocker. Definitely one of the biggest F1 accidents of the last 30+ years.

It's very unlikely that accident would have been survivable even four years ago.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Anyone remember the footage of Peter Dumbreck flipping his car through the air at LeMans 1999? Ok no fire involved but still, what a moment that was for him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNPiW9FFuyw

 

[oldgregg]

Yeah I remember that.

People tend to forget the fact that Mark Webber’s car did a somersault the day before as well.

[Smoggy]

16 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

but hopefully this accident will lead to safer improvements for the future. 

Surely the fact he walked away with relatively minor injuries says there's no need for any changes, all the safety features worked, hurtling round at high speed with hot engines and fuel will never be fully safe, nothing in life is.

[Chelsea14Ian]

There is talk that the barrier  was not suitable in that location. More suited  if cars hit side on.Romain went in nose first.Yes agree he was lucky,but that's the point he was very  lucky.If he was knocked  out,the outcome  would have been different. Personally I dont understand  way the run off didn't have gravel or grass like many tracks.If so may have slowed the car down.The fact that he hit the barrier at 53g,just amazing that he came out alive.Theres always room for more safety. 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

7 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Yeah I remember that.

People tend to forget the fact that Mark Webber’s car did a somersault the day before as well.

Think Webber flipped his twice during practise. The teams advice was "Don`t get too close to the car ahead of you!" Quite how you were supposed to overtake the car ahead was a problem.

[Paul]

It's good to see that Mercedes have chosen George Russell to replace Lewis Hamilton. It will add a great deal of interest to Sundays race. 

[BroadAmbition]

Here’s hoping he does well 

Griff

[Meantime]

9 hours ago, Paul said:

It's good to see that Mercedes have chosen George Russell to replace Lewis Hamilton. It will add a great deal of interest to Sundays race. 

Doh! I've not even had a chance to watch the race yet and now I know who's racing! 

[ChrisB]

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Let`s see if he does any better than Ralf did.

[Chelsea14Ian]

3 hours ago, Meantime said:

Doh! I've not even had a chance to watch the race yet and now I know who's racing! 

I never did it this time

[Paul]

On 03/12/2020 at 09:15, Meantime said:

Doh! I've not even had a chance to watch the race yet and now I know who's racing! 

I did wonder about waiting 'till the New Year before posting it, but thought what the heck, be militant!

It does seem like they are having a problem squeezing him in to the car. The good thing for Mercedes about Lewis and Valtteri is they are both roughly 5'8" which allows them to build quite a compact survival cell with little adjustment, whereas Russell is well over 6', it might well be that he will not find an optimum position in the car. 

[ExSurveyor]

I bet Russell won’t care how uncomfortable it is.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Read about Russell having to wear boots one size smaller than normal.

[ExSurveyor]

47 minutes ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Read about Russell having to wear boots one size smaller than normal.

Size 11, he is going to wear 10s. A small price to pay for a trundle around in a Mercedes.

[OldBerkshireBoy]

First practice time sheet is worth a look.