Jules Bianchi undergoes surgery after Japanese Grand Prix crash

[The _Don]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29499545

 

[grober]

Greater in depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding the incident. BBC Sport - Jules Bianchi: What lessons can F1 learn from Japan crash?

Controvesy remains concerning the use of the heavy recovery vehicle in a run off area in worsening conditions. Should they have left the previously crashed car Adrian Sutil's Sauber where it was- the driver had exited safely already-- would that have presented a less dangerous situation than the unyielding tractor unit???

 

[Dansenior]

Still to watch this race, only seen the highlights.

 

[mat8n]

Unfortunately I think they're waiting for jules bianchis parents to get to the hospital to decide the outcome.

 

[Druk]

^ Oh dear

 

[tanuie]

Lets hope he recovers fully and resumes his career.

 

[bpsorrel]

Terrible accident. I hope he recovers well and can race again next season.

The latest news so far..

Marussia asks for patience over Bianchi updates - GPUpdate.net

 

[bpsorrel]

Greater in depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding the incident. BBC Sport - Jules Bianchi: What lessons can F1 learn from Japan crash?

Controvesy remains concerning the use of the heavy recovery vehicle in a run off area in worsening conditions. Should they have left the previously crashed car Adrian Sutil's Sauber where it was- the driver had exited safely already-- would that have presented a less dangerous situation than the unyielding tractor unit???
]

Or, could there be a risk of an explosion if a car crashes heavily into a stricken car at the barriers? Neither option sounds good to me.

 

[bob6600]

Very sad. They will definitely review the use of JCB's but it may be too little too late for poor Jules. The amount of money in F1 they should have bespoke removal vehicles.

Latest on Jules of SS

"We're not getting any official updates from the hospital but I understand that Jules is in a very critical condition, still fighting for his life, and I can clear up a couple of pieces of misinformation which have been picked up by the French media and a couple of outlets in the UK," Sky Sports News HQ's Craig Slater reported at 6am UK Time on Monday morning.

"I can confirm that Jules is not, unfortunately, breathing unaided. My understanding is that he is still relying on a respirator at this point to be able to breathe.


Sauber’s Adrian Sutil crashed at the same corner as Jules Bianchi and feels the race could have been stopped sooner.
"I can also confirm that he has not undergone a second surgical procedure. My understanding is that he went through one medical procedure at about 11pm Japanese time and he has been intensive care since then."

No further update on Bianchi's condition is expected until his parents arrive at the Mie University Hospital later on Monday.

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Indeed very sad...who signed off the use of trackside JCB's? race safety office? surely risk analysis must have been conducted to authorise the use of such vehicles...
hindsight is a wonderful thing but imho it seems crazy to use such machinery in any conditions were high speed vehicles are passing close by
....

Don't they use over head cranes at other circuits?

 

[nb_racing]

A horrible freak accident.

As has been said, in highsight, why keep the start time the same knowing the weather would be so bad and the light fading? And the JCB suddenly seems rather antiquated in such a sport as F1.

Had he hit a marshall we'd almost certainly be talking about a fatality. Has he missed the crane we'd all be saying how lucky it was, and there we be no talk about the saftey of JCBs, and of the race in general. It one of those horrible, unfortunate, freak accidents.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what can be done to dramatically improve head saftey other than closed cockpit cars. Even that doesn't guarantee safety as demonstrated by Lioc Duval at Le Mans.

Hope he makes a full recovery.

 

[R2D2]

Sadly, I think he did hit a marshal who was injured but not fatally.

 

[grober]

Or, could there be a risk of an explosion if a car crashes heavily into a stricken car at the barriers? Neither option sounds good to me.

It's a good point well made, however these cars fuel tanks are very well protected against impact and would be low on fuel on this occasion. It does seem slightly incongruous that we have heavily deformable barriers in these areas [ which performed their function well in respect to Sutils Sauber] and immensely strong car "pods" and still introduce a "structural anomaly" in the form of an immensely heavy unyielding vehicle into the equation. Two other possible solutions come to mind- in this particular situation--- could the vehicle have been winched out of the critical area using a long tow rope [ using climbing rope type material] or even better a sort of spiders web mesh towing material or perhaps a more long term solution -the marshalls deploying of a new "temporary" portable rapid gas inflatable car cover or new barrier -- bit like a car airbag over any stricken car to re-instate some form of deformable surface till the car can be safely recovered.
I know its easy in hindsight but the devil is in the detail as always.

 

[wemorgan]

Bianchi's accident happened under double yellow flags. To crash in those circumstances and hit a truck is very unlucky indeed. Sometimes bad things just happen.

 

[whitenemesis]

He was travelling at some speed, the impact lifted the tractor clear off the ground!

The fact he didn't die instantly is testament to the strength of his crash helmet...

Crash Bianchi Suzuka 2014 - Gfycat

 

[renault12ts]

Terrible.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Cripes, that is extraordinary.

 

[grober]

Classic underrun accident. http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/doc/2012/wp29grsg/GRSG-104-49e.pdf
No doubt many decisions made that day will be scrutinised in the light of this tragedy. Many factors conspired to cause what happened. Now many are simply an unfortunate co-incidence of events which no-one could ever predict. In other words fate. However its important to drill down through the morass of "imponderables" to immutable facts. If a F1 car hits an unmodified heavy earthmoving type vehicle at speed the chances of severe driver injury are predictably high --- time after time--- whatever the circumstances this at least is entirely predictable . To avoid a repetition of any similar accident under any circumstance however unusual the message is there is no place for these vehicles in track run off zones while cars are running on the circuit.

One is reminded of the vulnerability of the drivers of F1 cars to underrun accidents when Marussia test driver Maria De Villota collided with a lorry at the Duxford Aerodrome a couple of years back at only about 30/40mph. She survived only to die a year later

Maria de Villota dies: Former Formula One test driver found dead in hotel room | Daily Mail Online

 

[DSB SL AMG]

Clip of incident, pretty horrid...hope he pulls through, but from the footage impact I can understand why his injuries are so bad...he was so unlucky, literally a few seconds earlier he would have avoided the reversing JCB :-(

LiveLeak.com - Crash Jules Bianchi Suzuka

 

[grober]

Clip of incident, pretty horrid...hope he pulls through, but from the footage impact I can understand why his injuries are so bad...he was so unlucky, literally a few seconds earlier he would have avoided the reversing JCB :-(

LiveLeak.com - Crash Jules Bianchi Suzuka

What is also revealing is the track marshal waving a green flag before the accident