60 replies to this topic

[BenettonB192]

Almost forgotten already because of the WDC fight i think this accident showed that F1 is still dangerous. Schumacher mentioned on TV that he felt uncomfortable under his skin and that he was lucky nothing serious happend.

I think if the car hits him that's it, neck broken. Hans System or not.

[Massa_f1]

Almost forgotten already because of the WDC fight i think this accident showed that F1 is still dangerous. Schumacher mentioned on TV that he felt uncomfortable under his skin and that he was lucky nothing serious happend.

I think if the car hits him that's it, neck broken. Hans System or not.

He was so lucky. My heart was in my mouth while i wated for the smoke around his helmet to clear. So glad he is ok and i hope to see him back next year

[hotstickyslick]

Most heart-stopping moment of the year. Forget DC and Wurz, this was looking at the face of death on a Force India nosecone.

[r4mses]

Ye, looked really dangerous indeed. Once it happened, they didn't show the cars standing there or a replay until MSC was out of the car - quite telling imo. Though accidents like that are rather uncommon, I think. MSC was turned 180° on the racing line...

Edited by r4mses, 14 November 2010 - 19:19.

[mclarensmps]

Almost forgotten already because of the WDC fight i think this accident showed that F1 is still dangerous. Schumacher mentioned on TV that he felt uncomfortable under his skin and that he was lucky nothing serious happend.

I think if the car hits him that's it, neck broken. Hans System or not.

That freaked me out as well... Honestly, had Schumacher not rolled his car a few feet, the FI would have hit him face first. My roommate was not watching at that time, but when he joined me I told him Schumacher could have died today, and thankfully, luckily, the car hit behind Schumacher's head. That was really really scary.

[Dunder]

Yup. Very lucky.
Open cockpit racing has its dangers.

[BRK]

It was quite scary,yes. Reminded me a bit of that Wurz-Coulthard incident at Oz a few years ago.

[Muppetmad]

Reminiscent of this crash:

[P123]

Almost forgotten already because of the WDC fight i think this accident showed that F1 is still dangerous. Schumacher mentioned on TV that he felt uncomfortable under his skin and that he was lucky nothing serious happend.

I think if the car hits him that's it, neck broken. Hans System or not.

Yep, very lucky escape. Thankfully head on collisions are rare in F1.

This was another lucky escape:

Herta Crash

[phil1993]

Very lucky. A reminder of the fact safety needs to be worked on still.

[tyrrellp346wheels]

The scariest moment of the year, and as Martin Brundle said, was a bigger risk than Webbers ariel shunt earleir in the year.

[wj_gibson]

It was quite scary,yes. Reminded me a bit of that Wurz-Coulthard incident at Oz a few years ago.

It was a bit closer to the edge than that.

There's been quite a bit of cars getting on top of each other around the cockpit area in the last couple of years. A while ago I thought that maybe the shape of the noses of the car is facilitating this. I'm pretty sure that with a low nose (i.e. 1980s style) the cars wouldn't be quite so able to climb around each other because they wouldn't get as much leverage at the front end when something got under the front of the car.

[ManiaMuse]

What suprised me was the way the 5live commentators hardly seemed concerned about it. For once Legard and Brundle did a better job of expressing concern about how dangerous it was.

Anyway a pretty unusual shunt but good to see Schumi still smiling afterwoods. Thankfully those kinds of collisions are pretty rare though I'm sure there will be people looking to further improve safety in collisions like that.

[Longtimefan]

It scared the hell out of me. So very glad he's ok.

[Shevek]

Really scary:

[pRy]

He edged the car forward just a moment before the impact and it was this that caused the car to go to the side of his cockpit rather than right at it.

[ManiaMuse]

Unrelated, but does anyone think that the Mercedes would look awesome if they gave it a rust effect paintscheme?

[Fastcake]

Very lucky. A reminder of the fact safety needs to be worked on still.

Unfortunately, however terrible that accident could of been, there is nothing that can be done. It was a freak, extremely rare, crash, that just can't be prevented in open-cockpit racing.

[glorius&victorius]

for a moment i thought i saw the red helmet being hit and moving to one side.... will this make MS rethink his F1 career?

[DXB]

I don't think the Herta Barron one is half as bad, he was just a sled sliding up.

Luizzi FI walloped into the Mercedes and he potentially could have been hit by his wheel.

[pRy]

Watching the replay Schumacher was lucky on two fronts. The FI left front wheel hit Schumachers nose cone first, that broke the suspension and caused the wheel to bounce over the cockpit and onto the engine cover.. thus avoiding hitting Schumacher in the head. And Schumacher moving forward slightly forced the Force India car up the side pod rather than up into the cockpit area. Fortunate indeed.

[eoin]

Unfortunately, however terrible that accident could of been, there is nothing that can be done. It was a freak, extremely rare, crash, that just can't be prevented in open-cockpit racing.

I doubt it. Lets not forget the catalyst for his comeback was the idea of replacing Massa after he came within a millimeter of his life. The guy knows the sport is dangerous, today was more of a reminder to viewer of how dangerous it can be.

[sw6569]

for a moment i thought i saw the red helmet being hit and moving to one side.... will this make MS rethink his F1 career?

after realising that MS was ok, this was the first thing that I thought. As an older driver, these crashes would make you seriously rethink whether continuing is worth it or not. I assume that he will, but if he was to change his mind it'd be completely understandable with that kind of crash. He was extremely lucky, but it is a danger of open cockpit racing

[Clatter]

Has to be the scariest accident in quite some time. Must admit I was laughing when MS spun it, but was shocked when the FI suddenly appeared and for a couple of seconds feared the worse.

[plastik2k9]

Almost certainly fatal if that car struck his head, and the wheel would most likely done the same; and so very, very close it was. F1 gets lucky again, but we cannot avoid these incidents, they are simply unavoidable in open cockpit racing.

EDIT: It reminded me also of the frightening Chandhok-Trulli collision in Monaco where the Lotus vaulted over the top of the HRT, and Chandhok grabbed his head, probably fearing for his life. I still can't tell if the car actually touched his helmet or not, but it certainly appeared to. Would explain why he grabbed his helmet actually.

Edited by plastik2k9, 14 November 2010 - 20:03.

[BRK]

for a moment i thought i saw the red helmet being hit and moving to one side.... will this make MS rethink his F1 career?

I don't think so....and I don't mean to sound like a sissy,but please not that thought again.

[razno]

Reminiscent of this crash:

Its cool how he in last moment close a visor....


It would be great if they release onboard video. I mean, no one is hurt so its ok. To se what schumacher seen....

Edited by razno, 14 November 2010 - 20:08.

[Muz Bee]

Very frightening, and a reminder that motor racing, in particular open wheelers, is still and will always have dangers Michael was very lucky not to have been hit by one of several large components. I hope and expect he commits to 2011 because he has looked a little more on it in the last 3 races and is challenging his teammate.

Did anyone get the impression that MS spun on his own and wasn't touched by Nico as Brundle had commented?

[Clatter]

Very frightening, and a reminder that motor racing, in particular open wheelers, is still and will always have dangers Michael was very lucky not to have been hit by one of several large components. I hope and expect he commits to 2011 because he has looked a little more on it in the last 3 races and is challenging his teammate.

Did anyone get the impression that MS spun on his own and wasn't touched by Nico as Brundle had commented?

Already confirmed by MS and Merc.

[Diablobb81]

Very frightening, and a reminder that motor racing, in particular open wheelers, is still and will always have dangers Michael was very lucky not to have been hit by one of several large components. I hope and expect he commits to 2011 because he has looked a little more on it in the last 3 races and is challenging his teammate.

Did anyone get the impression that MS spun on his own and wasn't touched by Nico as Brundle had commented?

Michael and Merc said there was no touch. He just went too wide and was too quickly on the throttle.

Glad that both are ok. Scary stuff.

[Ferrari_F1_fan_2001]

I know it wasnt Nico's fault but I cant help but feel that if Nico hadn't been so racy with Michael then MS wouldnt have gone on the dirty side, span and narrowly avoided death.

Nico has proved a lot this year but you get the feeling he knows MS has yet to show his real strength and Nico has felt very threatened by that. Too often he hasn't hesitated to get very racy with MS and bang wheels.

He's lucky that top brass has treated him kindly as has MS. Incidently did you see Haug's face after the crash? He was absolutely livid with Nico is the feeling I get...

[King Six]

Yeah, I winced when I saw that live. There's not much you can do about something like that though, it's not something you can fix in open-cockpit cars without making them closed-cockpit. Chandhok and Trulli had something similar in Monaco, slightly less violent then this, and everyone knows about Surtees and Massa. The drivers are just gonna have to accept this danger when they step into open cockpit/wheel racing... at least helmet design is always improving.

[EVO2]

I've thought for some time we have been extremely lucky not to have seen a fatal accident in F1 caused by a flying wheel or car.
There have been quite a few near misses and, of course, in F2 there was the tragic death of Henry Surtees who was killed by an errant wheel at Brands Hatch just last year.

It should be possible to devise a system to protect the driver without going to an enclosed cockpit, something I'm sure nobody wants.

I would propose a design of roll hoop that would dramatically reduce the risk :

A horizontal, retractable, U shaped hoop could be sprung-loaded and mounted in the airbox. During the race it would project forward and above the driver's head. Just before the formation lap it could be pulled forward into position by the pit crew using a pair of detachable levers, acting against strong springs.

The driver could easily retract it to get out by releasing a simple mechanical catch, as could track marshalls should they need to extract the driver following an accident.

As we are talking about F1 here, it should even be possible to devise a hi tech folding hoop like the electrically activated roll bar on a Mercedes SL.

In a F1 car it could be hinged outboard of the driver's shoulders and rise in front of his head, driven by upgraded airbag-style pyrotechnics, ( if they are considered safe). It could be activated by close proximity radar.

I can't be the first person who has thought this through, has there been any done work on it ?

If not, today's incident should prompt some action.

Edited by EVO2, 14 November 2010 - 20:52.

[Clatter]

I know it wasnt Nico's fault but I cant help but feel that if Nico hadn't been so racy with Michael then MS wouldnt have gone on the dirty side, span and narrowly avoided death.

Nico has proved a lot this year but you get the feeling he knows MS has yet to show his real strength and Nico has felt very threatened by that. Too often he hasn't hesitated to get very racy with MS and bang wheels.

He's lucky that top brass has treated him kindly as has MS. Incidently did you see Haug's face after the crash? He was absolutely livid with Nico is the feeling I get...

So your saying that NR shouldn't race MS and should just sit back behind him?

[sosidge]

Potentially very nasty and very pleased both men walked away.

[Muz Bee]

I know it wasnt Nico's fault but I cant help but feel that if Nico hadn't been so racy with Michael then MS wouldnt have gone on the dirty side, span and narrowly avoided death.

Nico has proved a lot this year but you get the feeling he knows MS has yet to show his real strength and Nico has felt very threatened by that. Too often he hasn't hesitated to get very racy with MS and bang wheels.

He's lucky that top brass has treated him kindly as has MS. Incidently did you see Haug's face after the crash? He was absolutely livid with Nico is the feeling I get...

Yeah I reckon he should just roll over and learn from following the master!

There have been plenty of times that Michael has been aggressively on the inside of Rosberg on lap 1, that's racing. If either driver were to start saying "after you" it's a blot on their record. Nico was clean and precise and quite entitled to be where he was, if Michael han't lost the rear he would still have dropped the position to Nico anyway, being off line.

As for your interpretation of Haug's face, are you psychic? Of course he was enormously frustrated, probably frightened for his driver as well.

I think you have simply come across as a disappointed Michael fan who is unable to look objectively at the action. Michael has his best years behind him, Nico probably the best ahead of him. Maybe the missing 0.01s and 0.1s is partly in the unconscious "I have nothing more to prove". It doesn't have to be something a driver thinks for it to exist in the psyche. Younger drivers tend to be hungrier which often causes them to crash a lot like Petrov but as they gain experience they crash less (see today's race). Nico has had a season where his errors have been few and his pace good given the equipment. He didn't finish a mere 4 points behind Massa in an inferior car and with a certain amount of bad luck without reason. He demonstrated for 2010 at least that he was the better driver at Team Merc. We can wish for what we want but the results are what matters. Please stop blaming Nico for making Michael look a bit ordinary.

[Diablobb81]

So your saying that NR shouldn't race MS and should just sit back behind him?

Maybe Rosberg shouldn't dive in for a nonexistant gap and force Michael to go on the dirty side. If Michael kept his line who would have been more to blame for a collision?

But more importantly :no, Rosberg shouldn't have raced Michael. Because : Rubens is easy to overtake and Michael would have given him the position anyway.

[Ferrari_F1_fan_2001]

So your saying that NR shouldn't race MS and should just sit back behind him?

And risk running into each other ala Red Bulls in Turkey.....?

Besides team strategy has favoured Nico sincd Germany.....MS would gladly yield (ala Brazil) or not fight too hard (ala Suzuka). All i am saying is that Nico has been too aggressive at times and it could have been costly for them......

[skonks]

very lucky escape from MS
I saw his head moving in the cockpit quickly after the crash and knew he was ok

incidents like this still remind us that F1 remains a very dangerous sport ...

[Disgrace]

Ironic really as both drivers really shouldn't be F1 at all. Lucky, lucky Schumacher. Should be in his pipe and slippers rather than this... and it was Schumachers mistake.

[Cenotaph]

Reminiscent of this crash:

that reminds me of cartoons where cars park above other cars

[DarthRonzo]

Liuzzi destroyed so many cars this season... again.

The Abu D one was the crash test mule.

There were no FI cars left to race.

[Iasius]

This could've been a fatal accident, but like boxers risking brain injury, it's a sport where these things can happen and I think the drivers understand that (to the extent you can really believe you're mortal anyway). You can always try to make it safer, but as long as people race at these speeds, there will always be that element of danger.

[razno]

Close, so close....

[SRi130Brett]

my reaction was oh my god is he alright?

I think the scariest crash in F1 since Kubica's big one in Canada 2007.

[Wouter]

He edged the car forward just a moment before the impact and it was this that caused the car to go to the side of his cockpit rather than right at it.

This was a very scary moment - glad Schumacher is OK but it could have ended much worse. F1 was and still is dangerous.

[Rob G]

I think the scariest crash in F1 since Kubica's big one in Canada 2007.

Webber's Valencia backflip ranks right up there too, not only the aerobatic act but also the slam into the tire wall at immense speed.

[smitten]

I rank this as one of the nastiest crashes from this year, with Webber in Valencia being close behind. But I also think that a knee-jerk reaction should be avoided - both crashes have shown the fundamental safety of modern cars, but both were exceptional yet not entirely unforeseen events.

Open wheel and open cockpit racing have inherent risks but when you look at the number of racing miles per year these kinds of accident are thankfully very rare. Safety is a good thing, but changes to protect against exceptional circumstances needs to be considered rather than as a knee-jerk.

[RC127]

my reaction was oh my god is he alright?

I think the scariest crash in F1 since Kubica's big one in Canada 2007.

I would say scarier.

Seeing some of these incredible pictures just turns my stomach all over again. FOM were so lucky they did not catch the death of a seven times world champion today LIVE ON TV by holding on the shot they did. What really makes me feel sick is that Schumacher survived not because of the safety features incorporated into the monocoque, but through a completely uncontrollable sequence of events and probabilities going this way (rather than that way) - I should think it takes an incredible type of person not to dwell on the "what ifs" in such a near miss.

Disappointed to hear that Ant and Crofty perhaps failed to grasp the gravity of what they had just witnessed, I have yet to hear their commentary which I will check out later.

Thank god Michael is ok, that was a "but for the grace of God" moment if ever there was one..

[Doughnut King]

When MS spun i had a feeling some was going to hit him, just not quite in such shocking fashion. I was relieved to see him out of the car.