Official Formula 1 thread

[White64Goat]

Sad to report that Indy Car driver Justin Wilson has died from his injuries suffered yesterday at Pocono...............thoughts and prayers to his friends and families from the 86 community.

[mike the snake]

Oh Man, that just terrible news. I saw it happen, watching the race on TV.

[Silver Ignition]

Two in two months...no good...

Maybe it's time to revamp their brain buckets...baseball and football revise their helmets every few years; between what happened to Massa a few years back, Jules Bianchi and now Justin Wilson, I'm gonna say that the helmets aren't rated well enough for outside objects/debris and with an open cockpit they absolutely without a doubt should be...

Sad, really...

[rice_classic]

I know it was debris (from a wreck) that cause the head injury but I still think the solution for IndyCar is to stop racing on Ovals.

Indy Car does 2 very stupid things (any many very smart things) but those 2 stupid things are the tracks. Ovals and Street circuits. One is vastly too dangerous while the other is vastly too boring. But start by dropping the Ovals first. How many deaths since 1990?... 9 I think? Sheeze!

[alxtheoreo]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

I know it was debris (from a wreck) that cause the head injury but I still think the solution for IndyCar is to stop racing on Ovals.

Indy Car does 2 very stupid things (any many very smart things) but those 2 stupid things are the tracks. Ovals and Street circuits. One is vastly too dangerous while the other is vastly too boring. But start by dropping the Ovals first. How many deaths since 1990?... 9 I think? Sheeze!

How about "low speed" ovals (e.g. Milwaukee, Loudoun, Nazareth, etc.)?

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[mike the snake]

I don't think they could make a helmet that could survive a hit like the hit that his helmet took, and if it did, it would have still probably had the same outcome.

I could see maybe a different canopy or some design that didn't allow direct hits to the heaad like in Massa's and this case, but racing is just dangerous.

The cars today are SO MUCH safer than the even faster Can Am and Formula 5000 cars they used to drive, which had paper thin bodywork with no protection for the driver whatsoever.

This was just a super unfortunate incident IMO.

[Silver Ignition]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

I don't think they could make a helmet that could survive a hit like the hit that his helmet took, and if it did, it would have still probably had the same outcome.

I could see maybe a different canopy or some design that didn't allow direct hits to the heaad like in Massa's and this case, but racing is just dangerous.

The cars today are SO MUCH safer than the even faster Can Am and Formula 5000 cars they used to drive, which had paper thin bodywork with no protection for the driver whatsoever.

This was just a super unfortunate incident IMO.

What I saw on the very limited video coverage, he hit a piece of bodywork, it went up the nose of his car and over the cockpit. Same idea as the Massa crash, what was it a spring, if I remember correctly? I mean, I know the cars are CRUISING when they're coming into contact with these items but at that point the helmets are just bug shields. They can do more, I've seen motorcyclists hit the ground with their grape at 100+ and walk away, why can't a professional race car driver get some carbon fiber to the noggin and not walk away?
Probably wouldn't have saved Jules but may have kept Massa in the paddock rather than a helicopter and may have saved Justin Wilson. It's worth another look.

[alxtheoreo]

Originally Posted by Silver Ignition

What I saw on the very limited video coverage, he hit a piece of bodywork, it went up the nose of his car and over the cockpit. Same idea as the Massa crash, what was it a spring, if I remember correctly? I mean, I know the cars are CRUISING when they're coming into contact with these items but at that point the helmets are just bug shields. They can do more, I've seen motorcyclists hit the ground with their grape at 100+ and walk away, why can't a professional race car driver get some carbon fiber to the noggin and not walk away?
Probably wouldn't have saved Jules but may have kept Massa in the paddock rather than a helicopter and may have saved Justin Wilson. It's worth another look.

There's more mass & velocity at play here. Hence greater impact forces & more chances of critical damage.

At the end of the day, auto racing involves risk & danger. At least he died doing what he loved. I wouldn't go out any other way.

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[headlikeahole]

Originally Posted by Silver Ignition

What I saw on the very limited video coverage, he hit a piece of bodywork, it went up the nose of his car and over the cockpit. Same idea as the Massa crash, what was it a spring, if I remember correctly? I mean, I know the cars are CRUISING when they're coming into contact with these items but at that point the helmets are just bug shields. They can do more, I've seen motorcyclists hit the ground with their grape at 100+ and walk away, why can't a professional race car driver get some carbon fiber to the noggin and not walk away?
Probably wouldn't have saved Jules but may have kept Massa in the paddock rather than a helicopter and may have saved Justin Wilson. It's worth another look.

My understanding is that F1 (not sure about indy) uses helmets rated just the same as MotoGP. The problem is guys are getting hit with stationary objects at insane speeds. You can hit your head falling off a bike but your momentum is moving forward so the impact wont be that bad.

Justin Wilson was hit in the head at 200+ mph with a nose cone. The nose cones have a weight ballast in them and can weigh up to 40 lbs... No helmet will save you from that kind of impact. Massa was struck with a spring (still pretty heavy) at half that speed and it nearly killed him.

On the other side of the spectrum, henry Surtees was struck going much much slower in GP2 years ago, but he was hit by an entire wheel which im sure weighed 60+ lbs.

The only thing that will save you from these kinds of impacts are enclosed cockpits. That's a whole other debate though.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by R2KD

I'd say there's plenty of time between now and next year for Renault to clear up their issues and be ready as a works team. After all up til this year they have shown plenty of speed

Their power units have been weak since Vettel's last championship, quite a few retirements in '13 before the changeover to V6's, they probably put all their resources into the new development and only had shoestring support for RB and Lotus in '13 and have been behind ever since.

And the V6's are fine, first year of the V6 was the most fun to watch since they eliminated traction control in '06, they were all learning to cope with the torque from the turbos even late into the season.

I like that they have to manage equipment (although the fuel flow rate restriction is bogus, giving them a set amount of fuel is good enough imo), if they could drive flat out for 2 hours it'd be even more boring than it is today imo, glorified parade lapping as the cars running exactly the same as they did in qualifying barring the 3-4 guys that missed the mark on setup or got screwed on a flying lap and made huge improvements before the race.

As a race fan, I want wheel to wheel, I want dogfighting, and watching 5 year old kids banging wheels with 5hp lawnmower engines has been more entertaining at times than F1.

Nerf the aero, compensate with fat tires (and not miracle rubber that can run at 10/10ths for the whole day), open up the engine regs and watch 'em slip and slide.

[Silver Ignition]

Williams is keeping their lineup through 2016!

[Icanfaptothis86]

How bout just accept that moving at high average speeds is dangerous as hell and there isnt any amount of technology that can stop your body from turning to jelly into a big accident

Risk is what makes things rich.

You remove the risk from auto racing you you basically get soccer moms in SUVs passive aggressively trying to get to a parking spot before the other bitch

[jdmblood]

rosbergs car go boom boom

[PWBRZ]

I see Mercedes was in danger of being penalized for breach of tire pressure regulations: 0.3psi lower than the minimum amount specified by Pirelli on safety grounds for Hamilton and 1.1psi lower for Rosberg. I realize Pirelli didn't want to see any blowouts on this fast track but this just seems to affirm the very strict, micro-management feel of F1. The rule book must be at least 5000 pages.