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Jean-Eric Vergne was hospitalised after Australian GP


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#1 D.M.N.

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:21

Very concerning to read: http://www.f1i.com/i...r-ete-lhopital/



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#2 Markn93

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:24

This is gaining some traction, Sky have been banging on about it and it seems concerns are genuine and not just trying to fill stories/interviews. 



#3 kimster89

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:27

Very concerning to read: http://www.f1i.com/i...r-ete-lhopital/

Can somebody translate at least some basic points. My french does not exist at all. :)



#4 pRy

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:28

English: http://www.motorspor...treme-f1-diets/



#5 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:44

Surprised that the weight difference between JEV and Kvyat would equate to 4 tenths, but it is starting to get pretty crazy - these guys aren't riding horses for crying out loud...

Edited by krapmeister, 06 April 2014 - 10:45.


#6 spacekid

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:46

Madness.

#7 midgrid

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:48

Surely it's only a matter of time before the minimum weight limit is pushed through on safety grounds?



#8 Blanchimont2002

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:49

Quite crazy the extreme measures some drivers are having to take. If they are putting their health at risk, and ending up in hospital, then surely something has to give? The weight limit surely has to go up?

#9 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:58

Didn't the weight limit go up anyway though? Frankly I think it would be better somehow to designate a minimum weight for the driver - say 70 or 75kgs and is separate from the weight of the car. So car minimum weight is say 625kgs + driver minimum weight of 75kgs. And to remove the advantage lighter drivers would have wrt to ballast you could even mandate where the driver ballast can be situated...

Edit: DanardiF1 pretty much posted the same thing as I added the bolded bit to my original post

Edited by krapmeister, 06 April 2014 - 11:07.


#10 Diablobb81

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 10:59

Insanity.



#11 goldenboy

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:01

wtf is this sh*t. Should be a simple fix.



#12 DanardiF1

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:01

It just has to be a minimum weight for driver and seat. Make sure that the weight is in the same place for everyone rather than again just having the teams place the weight as ballast wherever they want and making the driver stay stick thin.



#13 rmpugh

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:02

This really pisses me off. F1 has become a sport that is promoting anorexia.  :down:



#14 Jackmancer

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:03

A bit shallow journalism - no details on what happened in the hospital. I think it was merely a checkup.



#15 jcpower13

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:03

What's puzzling me, is that they keep adding weight to the cars to give the Heavier drivers more leeway and yet the drivers keep needing to be lighter and lighter. I don't recall driver's weight being this bad back when cars weighed near enough 600kg.



#16 Nonesuch

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:05

Very concerning to read: http://www.f1i.com/i...r-ete-lhopital/

 

It certainly is. :up: His supposed health problems are bad enough, but even the suggestion that the weight of the driver can have such a significant effect (Vergne apparently mentions it's about four tenths in his case) is troublesome.

 

Also, thumbs up to the F1i.com website for having a special, front-page, photo gallery dedicated to 'Les girlfriends des pilotes de F1'. :lol:


Edited by Nonesuch, 06 April 2014 - 11:06.


#17 HuddersfieldTerrier1986

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:06

What's puzzling me, is that they keep adding weight to the cars to give the Heavier drivers more leeway and yet the drivers keep needing to be lighter and lighter. I don't recall driver's weight being this bad back when cars weighed near enough 600kg.

 

The designers etc want the driver as light as possible so they have as much free ballast as possible to play with so they can put it exactly where they want.



#18 Fastcake

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:06

Surely it's only a matter of time before the minimum weight limit is pushed through on safety grounds?


Agreed. If drivers are being precautionary hospitalised and cars are running without water bottles to save weight, then the FIA have to act.

#19 jcpower13

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:08

The designers etc want the driver as light as possible so they have as much free ballast as possible to play with so they can put it exactly where they want.

Then why was this not a big problem back when the cars were 90kg lighter?



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#20 Adelaide

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:08

Didn't the weight limit go up anyway though? Frankly I think it would be better somehow to designate a minimum weight for the driver - say 70kgs?


Maybe, but 70kg might be a bit high. I think Felipe Mass is only 160 something cms tall. I weigh 63 kg and I need to lose weight! (I'm 155 cms tall) Poor Felipe would have to be on a diet to keep his weight up.

Something needs to be done.

#21 jcpower13

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:09

Maybe, but 70kg might be a bit high. I think Felipe Mass is only 160 something cms tall. I weigh 63 kg and I need to lose weight! (I'm 155 cms tall) Poor Felipe would have to be on a diet to keep his weight up.

Something needs to be done.

Add weight to the seat to bring him up to the min weight limit.



#22 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:17

Maybe, but 70kg might be a bit high. I think Felipe Mass is only 160 something cms tall. I weigh 63 kg and I need to lose weight! (I'm 155 cms tall) Poor Felipe would have to be on a diet to keep his weight up.

Something needs to be done.


Agree that drivers like Kvyat/Massa/Vettel etc aren't going to be able to each 70 or 75kgs but drivers like Jenson, Hulkenberg, and Webber/Kubica for example were somewhere near the 70kg mark iirc. But my point was that if the driver has a minimum weight then it should be made a sensible number so that no-one has to go to silly measures to get to a certain weight. If drivers are lighter then by all means add ballast to make up for it but then mandate where the ballast for the driver goes so there is no real advantage for lighter drivers wrt ballast...

#23 Sheepmachine

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:20

This is dangerous. What. If a driver loses so much weight or dehydrates himself so much that he passes out during the race. Tall drivers shouldn't be penalised. Surely they can just raise the weight limit for the next race for safety reasons.

#24 dweller23

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:25

As much as this is concerning, I don't think FIA will do anything about it until something happens, though.

 

It usually works that way - something bad happens, kneejerk reaction and tons of regulations are changed instead of simple fix. I love the idea of minimum seat + driver weight, one of the best and simple ideas I've ever seen on this forums, hopefully it will be introduced to F1.

 

Someone passing out in the car would be VERY dangerous - the foot would stay on acceleration pedal and there could be a huge wreck as a consequence ESPECIALLY with tarmac run-offs, which will not slow the car down in any way...



#25 pdac

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:27

Add weight to the seat to bring him up to the min weight limit.

 

My feeling too.



#26 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:27

Well JEV did make a couple of errors towards the end of the Australian GP - while you can't say for certain it's possible they could have been a result of him being affected by dehydration etc.

Edited by krapmeister, 06 April 2014 - 11:30.


#27 FenderJaguar

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:29

the weight is an issue regarding laptimes which is absurd. they should mandate a minimum weight for driver and seat and do it now



#28 Jon83

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:34

The whole thing is farcical. 



#29 alfa1

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:38

Then why was this not a big problem back when the cars were 90kg lighter?

 

It was a small problem to some degree, but offset greatly due to the teams being able to build cars that were very much underweight, allowing a large amount of tungsten ballast to be placed where they like. The KERS thing of the last few years negated some of that, so thats why there was a bit of extra driver weight discussion in the last few years.

 

But this year, there's been talk that some ALL cars are actually overweight (with the new complex engines) and others have insignificant amounts of ballast.

Random example here...

http://www.autosport...t.php/id/113105

...so in that case, every kilo of driver equates to a car a kilo heavier than an opponent.

 

Edit - on another forum, claims are made that all cars are over the weight limit (as of a few weeks ago), with a Ted Kravitz claim that Ferrari is 18kg overweight.

http://www.f1technic...p?p=495486&f=12


Edited by alfa1, 06 April 2014 - 11:46.


#30 Massa

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:39

Well JEV did make a couple of errors towards the end of the Australian GP - while you can't say for certain it's possible they could have been a result of him being affected by dehydration etc.

 

 

This.

 

But once again, the stupid FIA will react when something badly will happen. I hope everything will be fine, but i will not be surprise if one of a " big " driver ( Sutil for example ) will do something stupid because he would have lost his lucidity.



#31 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:47

This.
 
But once again, the stupid FIA will react when something badly will happen. I hope everything will be fine, but i will not be surprise if one of a " big " driver ( Sutil for example ) will do something stupid because he would have lost his lucidity.


Considering Sutil's past then I am not sure he was the best example you could have used... :p


(Sorry - I know it's a serious issue but I couldn't resist...)

#32 SHODAN

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:47

We had this conversation just a couple of years ago and yet nothing has been done about it. I'm afraid we'll have to see an equivalent of a flying wheel killing someone to have FIA move their fat bottom and actually pay attention to how their regulations affect the drivers.



#33 P123

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 11:53

It's as clear as day that they need to increase the minimum weight of the cars.

Far too much focus on irrelevant nonsense like the volume of the engines.

#34 muramasa

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:34

dont understand how it is diffcult to install sort of flexible weights along/under the seat. 20-30 kg of weight doesnt require much room at all and shouldnt pose danger. That way still not completely equal but difference would be reduced to only negligible.



#35 krapmeister

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:43

Nigel Roebuck has written a piece in Motorsport about this very thing. FWIW apparently Webber weighed 74kgs last year - so a minimum weight for driver of 75kgs wouldn't be out of the ballpark...

#36 DanardiF1

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:44

It's as clear as day that they need to increase the minimum weight of the cars.

Far too much focus on irrelevant nonsense like the volume of the engines.

 

They don't, they just need to eliminate the irresponsible use of moveable ballast at the expense of the driver's health. Even if they make the car heavier, the team's will still want their drivers to lose weight to put the weight around the car instead.



#37 aditya-now

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:44

Surprised that the weight difference between JEV and Kvyat would equate to 4 tenths, but it is starting to get pretty crazy - these guys aren't riding horses for crying out loud...

 

Which means 10 kilograms weight difference. It is a shame that F1 drivers have to fast nowadays like supermodels had to from the start of the 80s.... Not the best advertising for the sport - they should move the weight limit up by 20 kilograms, to be sure.



#38 JHSingo

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:46

It's as clear as day that they need to increase the minimum weight of the cars.

Far too much focus on irrelevant nonsense like the volume of the engines.

 

Well said. Who gives a monkeys about the noise or whatever, when this type of thing is going on?

 

The driver's health is far more important than anything else. I just find it amazing that in a sport that is so safety concious, they now find themselves in this truly ridiculous situation.



#39 LoudHoward

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:47

Just chiming in to say I agree with all the reasonable people lol, min driver+seat weight is the way to go. Make it 90kg or something.

 

Haven't seen a single good argument against the driver + seat idea yet and it solves all relevant problems.


Edited by LoudHoward, 06 April 2014 - 12:49.


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#40 dweller23

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:53

Just chiming in to say I agree with all the reasonable people lol, min driver+seat weight is the way to go. Make it 90kg or something.

 

Haven't seen a single good argument against the driver + seat idea yet and it solves all relevant problems.

Would the fact that Tony Stewart would be almost good to enter F1 be enough of an argument against it? :stoned:



#41 aditya-now

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 12:53

Which means 10 kilograms weight difference. It is a shame that F1 drivers have to fast nowadays like supermodels had to from the start of the 80s.... Not the best advertising for the sport - they should move the weight limit up by 20 kilograms, to be sure.

 

 

Just chiming in to say I agree with all the reasonable people lol, min driver+seat weight is the way to go. Make it 90kg or something.

 

Haven't seen a single good argument against the driver + seat idea yet and it solves all relevant problems.

 

Spot on, the driver + seat solution is viable and should be adopted as quick as possible. As a driver fainting in the car because of severe weight loss and dehydration is a serious safety issue, they must act immediately.

 

It remains one of the sad facts of motorsport, that tragic things had to happen before changes were implemented. Let us hope this change does not take a tragic prelude....



#42 Clatter

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 20:26

It just has to be a minimum weight for driver and seat. Make sure that the weight is in the same place for everyone rather than again just having the teams place the weight as ballast wherever they want and making the driver stay stick thin.

This has been brought up numerous times over the years, with this being the solution. I cannot understand why the people in charge find it such a hard thing to do.



#43 kraduk

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Posted 06 April 2014 - 21:34

Then why was this not a big problem back when the cars were 90kg lighter?

 

 

because they could easily make the cars massively under the minimum weight, and have plenty of ballast to play with. Now the cars are much closer to the minimum weight meaning not a lot of ballast to play with. In fact the suaber cant even make the minimum weight.