All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Quite likely. Amazing that he was able to climb out of that flaming wreckage. Great job by the safety crew.

 

Just saw the video. I’m stunned that he survived. The commentators said Grosjean made a move when he wasn’t clear, but did anything possibly break on that car? You don’t shoot across the track like that unless something is wrong, even if he’s just trying to avoid the car on his left.

 

Halo, Nomex, Kevlar. All amazing, even if you don’t like the way the halo looks.

They’re saying Grosjean has some broken ribs and acute burns, but at least he was able to get out on his own once somebody finally got the fire extinguisher going.



Also, where is the damn SAFER barrier?

 

I just got to see more of the replay. The car appeared to hit at almost a 90 degree angle right through the Armco, which must have torn off the oil cooler and burst the fuel bladder in the process.

But the bigger question I have: What the hell is Armco even doing there? Who in their right mind thinks you're going to stop an F1 car with an aluminum guardrail? Even if that's an access gate of some sort, it needs an actual wall to deflect and direct the car away from the hazard.

That's an accident that would have decapitated someone two years ago. And Grosjean walked away. Amazing and lucky.

 

Grosjean and the halo went *under* the barrier. He's damn lucky that he wasn't cut in half or decapitated. Jaysus.

 

Surprised someone hasn't developed an instant-on foam fire suppressant high-powered spray for all F1 emergency vehicles...those hand-held fire extinguishers just don't cut it.

 

I've walked Circuit Villenueve in Montreal and Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City for NASCAR races and have been stunned by the lack of attention to even the most obvious safety measures for the world's premier racing series. I've been to midwest short track bullrings with better safety practices and planning, but I'm certain F1 feels they've got it covered without my advice.

I've seen a car flip over the chain link fence in Turn 1 at an ARCA race at Pocono, and sooner or later there's going to be a tragic situation in the pits at Dover, because the wall separating pit road from the track is probably not three feet high -- and all it's going to take is a car flipping over that to create a serious situation because spectators with hot passes are allowed to stand right behind the crews.

 

Extra blue font for this, but:

So this is what it takes for Grosjean to have a wreck that he can't blame on someone else?

 

It remains amazing to me that these cars can now withstand an accident like this and the driver survives. That video of Grosjean popping out of the flames and hopping over the rail is incredible. 137 MPH into and through a steel barrier, the car splits in two, the cockpit is engulfed in flames... and the guy is posting a video on Instagram a few hour later. Unbelievable.

My chief question in all of this is how in the hell do you go through a barrier like that? That seems like a terrible structural deficiency. I don't really take issue with the placement or type of barrier there -- it's really rare to have a wreck like this along a straight -- but a failure like this should be unacceptable.

Feel bad for Grosjean -- this is likely his last time in an F1 car, unless he's somehow able to go in the next two weeks. Lousy way to go out.

Don't know if anyone caught it but there was a horrifying safety breach -- a marshal ran across the track to get to Perez's car, right in front of Lando Norris. There was an on-board shot from Norris' onboard camera. Anyone familiar with Tom Pryce's demise had to cover their eyes for that one. (And if you are unfamiliar with Tom Pryce's death, I can't stress this enough: don't watch the video.)

I initially had the same reaction, but I think he was moving right to avoid slowing traffic and just didn't see Kvyat. The mirrors are beyond useless and Kvyat was pretty far to the right. Still possible something broke but I think he was just moving into what he thought was clear track.

 

Catching up with the whole Bahrain GP now. The thing about F1 the last couple seasons is that, other than the Mercedes, the racing has been fairly competitive, and several of the races they threw in to make up the numbers (Portimao, Turkey, in particular) were real keepers.

Back to the Grosjean wreck, I think a lot of track designers are good at preventing wrecks to the "outside," but a lot of the really dangerous ones we've seen (for example, Kurt Busch's broken leg, the fatal F2 accident at Spa last year and Grosjean) were when the wall contact was to the inside. I think it's a safety corner a lot of folks think they can cut. Probably long past time to deal with that.

I'd hope that with a cracked rib and minor burns he might take a week and come back for a valedictory at Abu Dhabi. I'd kind of like for him to get one more chance to blame a fender-bender on someone else.

 

It's been a really screwed-up year but that's been the silver lining for me -- races at Imola, Mugello, Nurburgring, Turkey and Portimao. I suspect we'll never see four of those five again but it made for some fun racing.

 

When it comes to F1 and its tracks, there's always someone who can't pay their bills. I mean, hell, the Vietnam street race may never actually happen now after it got yanked off the 2021 calendar. In fact, one of those places might just land in that slot if the price is right. In fact, that late-April slot Vietnam might be vacating seems like a great place to put Portimao (two weeks before Spain).