77 replies to this topic

[CONOSUR]

F1Racing is reporting the Michael suffered a left rear tire failure towards the end of the front straight and crashed heavily, though without too much damage to the car ( )...

Where's Atlas on this?

[dajwalia]

AutoSport and Pitpass are also running the story. I heard from Bira once that they do not always send their reporters for private test session and rely on teams to give them information. So we might not see one until the team gives it to Atlas.

[Chickenman]

I do find that I am consistantly having to go to other sites to get up to minute news on F1. Atlas seems to be lagging behind in the day to day news department. Their news seems to be more detailed than other sites, but the daily news always seems to be behind.

I'm really going to have to think long and hard about renewing my subscription to Atlas when it runs out.


Edit : I guess Atlas was just updating their report...complete with pictures. As always ...with more details than other sites. I guess I have to eat my words.

[arcwulf7]

The man leads a charmed life. He went into the armco on a test a few years ago at 300k.. walked away. Good conditioning, excellent technology.. still going from 300k to zero in a few milliseconds sends all the organs and bones crashing into each other inside the human body, it doesn't get any softer as you get older. Wonder if this has Michael thinking just how long he wants to tempt the hands of fate.

[dajwalia]

Atlas, now, has the report

[PhilKerr]

Originally posted by arcwulf7
The man leads a charmed life. He went into the armco on a test a few years ago at 300k.. walked away. Good conditioning, excellent technology.. still going from 300k to zero in a few milliseconds sends all the organs and bones crashing into each other inside the human body, it doesn't get any softer as you get older. Wonder if this has Michael thinking just how long he wants to tempt the hands of fate.

broken leg at Ferrari in 1999
broken neck at Benetton

yeah very charmed life

as for that other weirdo at the start of the thread, I would probably be banned if I called you what I wanted to call you

[tmccandless]

ITV has a short story on it but not much more detail than already given. Very odd for a Bridgestone, we haven't seen that all year really.

[Scudetto]

I'm glad MS walked away. Apparently he needed to lie down on the grass and take a few deep breaths while waiting for the emergency crews.

[Heathcliff]

Originally posted by Scudetto


ANYONE who wishes for, cheers for, applauds for, relishes in, or otherwises derives enjoyment from a driver's shunt is a dispicable lowlife of immeasureable proportions.

I totally agree

But unfortunately there are too many people who call themselves "fans" who are like that.

[PhilKerr]

Originally posted by F1Johnny


He broke his neck at Benetton?

Yes I definitely remember that he broke a vertebrae in his neck and continued racing despite the fact that he knew another shunt could kill or paralyse him, I believe he did it in testing

Maybe someone on here can confirm this is the case

[Heathcliff]

Originally posted by PhilKerr


Yes I definitely remember that he broke a vertebrae in his neck and continued racing despite the fact that he knew another shunt could kill or paralyse him, I believe he did it in testing

Maybe someone on here can confirm this is the case

Totally wrong, as usual CT.
He cracked his vertebrae or something like that anyway in Suzuka 91 and they only found out about it in 94.
Dont overdramatisize, there was no danger of death or getting paralized.

[RiDE]

Originally posted by PhilKerr


Yes I definitely remember that he broke a vertebrae in his neck and continued racing despite the fact that he knew another shunt could kill or paralyse him, I believe he did it in testing

Maybe someone on here can confirm this is the case

I think that was JJ Lehto.

[ERD1]

I wonder if this was with the 'new' Bridgestones, as used in Hungary and sidelined for Spa - because of the need for more high speed circuit testing.

[CONOSUR]

Originally posted by ERD1
I wonder if this was with the 'new' Bridgestones, as used in Hungary and sidelined for Spa - because of the need for more high speed circuit testing.

That's my understanding, based on comments I recall being made prior to Belgium...

[HBoss]

So these things don't happen to Michelin only.
I'm glad MS' ok.

[babbel]

please keep it on topic and ignore troll posters

[logic]

Originally posted by HBoss
So these things don't happen to Michelin only.
I'm glad MS' ok.

I think Michelin responded well with better performance tyres at Spa that last onl if you stay well on track like Kimi did. Maybe Bstones follow the same to increase tyre performance.

[karlth]

Just read in Autosport that Bridgestone felt "ashamed" by their performance at Spa and will not let it happen again.

[DaleCooper]

I knew it was the bloody tires. Can we please have an end to the tyre war?


Cooper

[UPRC]

Wow, the car had the living crap beat right out of it... I'm surprised that Michael is uninjured.

[indycarjunkie]

For a moment I thought this was a trick headline. I thought what Conosour was going to say was that Schumi "crashed" Monza in that he shattered the track record.

Glad he walked away from it though. Were there any local Italian TV crews there?

[Group B]

Originally posted by karlth
Just read in Autosport that Bridgestone felt "ashamed" by their performance at Spa and will not let it happen again.

Curious; the Ferrari's certainly lacked pace on Sunday, but I'd put it down to a compromised setup. I wonder if BS mean they got the choice wrong, or whether they mean Michelin have moved the game on and they plan to respond?

[fastlegs]

http://f1.racing-liv...m/en/index.html

f1.racing-live.com are displaying 2 pictures of the incident involving MS. One shows the damage to the car, and the other of MS lying down while waiting for assistance.

[jimm]

Originally posted by PhilKerr


broken leg at Ferrari in 1999
broken neck at Benetton

yeah very charmed life

as for that other weirdo at the start of the thread, I would probably be banned if I called you what I wanted to call you

JJ Lehto broke his neck not MS.

Combared to some like Piquet, Berger, Mika H, Johney Herbert or Karl Windlinger, he has gotten away fairly clean with his accidents. As far as I am aware, 1999 was the only time he has been injured in an accident.

[Dragonfly]

Judging from the number of laps he'd made he probably was doing an endurance test. Luckily went away unhurt.
But I am beginning to fear that the tyre war may take its toll. Those high speed tyre failures should bring some reason to the manufacturers. They are playing on the edge.

[Scorg]

Originally posted by tmccandless
ITV has a short story on it but not much more detail than already given. Very odd for a Bridgestone, we haven't seen that all year really.

Without seeing any reports as to how and why yet, the Jordan's have suffered some bridgestone failures, like Glocks in friday practice at silverstone and also Pantano during the german gp.
All I recall was an investigation being called but no reasons for the failures (if ive missed something, feel free to add)

[ERD1]

Originally posted by DaleCooper
I knew it was the bloody tires. Can we please have an end to the tyre war?


Cooper

I am not convinced of that yet but I do think that both tire manufacturers might be toying with fragility in order to extract the last ounce of performance. This is not allowed with the car (ie min weight, crash testing etc) so why is it allowed with the tyre?

I can envision an FIA run tire test rig that takes the tyre to say 120% max rotational speed and very high and low downforces and rolls the equivalent of kerb discontinuites into it that must be successfully completed before any different tire construction can be used in anger.

(The test rig would be 'datumed' by, for instance, the Michelin tyres used at Spa failing on it.)

This should not await a fatal accident. Apart from this time with Michael, many, including Jenson, were very lucky at Spa. The writing is on the wall.

Right away the FIA could mandate a return to the latest race-proven tire construction of each manufacturer until such time as a suitable test procedure can be implemented.

No cheers .. very serious matter.

[CONOSUR]

Originally posted by DaleCooper
I knew it was the bloody tires. Can we please have an end to the tyre war?

Michael claims it was the numerous Safety Car periods which gave the race to Kimi, because his............. tires ..............took too long to warm up allowing those who passed him to do so under acceleration, though he admits Montoya's pass took him by surprise.

Story here.

[lukywill]

a serious accident happened one year ago with his brother ralf. after the tyre war. (not sure if ralf's accident was due to tyres). so much for safe issues when tyres blow up.

[Group B]

Originally posted by ERD1


...I do think that both tire manufacturers might be toying with fragility in order to extract the last ounce of performance. This is not allowed with the car (ie min weight, crash testing etc) so why is it allowed with the tyre?

I can envision an FIA run tire test rig that takes the tyre to say 120% max rotational speed and very high and low downforces and rolls the equivalent of kerb discontinuites into it that must be successfully completed before any different tire construction can be used in anger.

(The test rig would be 'datumed' by, for instance, the Michelin tyres used at Spa failing on it.)

This should not await a fatal accident. Apart from this time with Michael, many, including Jenson, were very lucky at Spa. The writing is on the wall.

Right away the FIA could mandate a return to the latest race-proven tire construction of each manufacturer until such time as a suitable test procedure can be implemented.

[MPJay]

Michael Schumacher did indeed break his neck, it was his famous Suzuka crash of 1991 in the Benetton, they did not catch it until years later when a routine preseason x ray showed that there was a vertebrae that fractured and healed again. Before you wonder how they missed such an elementary thing, remember Ralf recently also had broken vertibrae in his back and it wasn't caught until a couple days later. Read it in a backcopy of F1 Racing....maybe 1997 or so, i threw all of them out to make space lol.

[Sakae]

Is he going to race at Imola, or does he needs to go through battery of evaluation first? Medics are telling us that micro-fractures might be hard to detect. How is he feeling, or where is he? Any statement from the team? Anyone?

[DaleCooper]

CONOSUR wrote:

Michael claims it was the numerous Safety Car periods which gave the race to Kimi, because his............. tires ..............took too long to warm up allowing those who passed him to do so under acceleration, though he admits Montoya's pass took him by surprise.


My theory is that Ferrrai should have been 1 sec faster than anyone at SPA. Michael is great there and the ferrari suits the track. SO why were they all of a sudden being swallowed up by all the Michelin runners? SHould have been a cakewalk. I think Michelin did their homework, as they had some experience with the new tarmac. Remember, it wasn't just Kimi, ALonso and Montoya and Button were quick as well, so either they all caught ferrari or perhaps Michelin really did have a quick tire there. Then again it could be down to bad setup or compromised etc...
Fact is with the tire war as it is, nothing is clear, and that makes following the sport difficult.


Cooper

[NELF]

Schumi should go check up.. skip a race or two... better if for the rest of the year... :lol:kidding

glad he is ok....

[Ricardo F1]

Originally posted by DaleCooper
My theory is that Ferrrai should have been 1 sec faster than anyone at SPA. Michael is great there and the ferrari suits the track. SO why were they all of a sudden being swallowed up by all the Michelin runners? SHould have been a cakewalk.

Michael WAS quick later in the day. His pace wasn't that bad, but the starts on cold tyres saw him past by numerous drivers. Chances are he simply had a car more set up for wet than Kimi and co, people have posted pics of a rather large back wing on the Ferrari. Dry qualifying, dry race, everything being equal I believe Ferrari would have won it comfortably.

Glad Michael's OK, car looked pretty banged up.

[eoin]

Its shunts like these that could convince him to call it a day. He has nothing to prove, and everything to lose.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Ricardo F1


Michael WAS quick later in the day. His pace wasn't that bad, but the starts on cold tyres saw him past by numerous drivers. Chances are he simply had a car more set up for wet than Kimi and co, people have posted pics of a rather large back wing on the Ferrari. Dry qualifying, dry race, everything being equal I believe Ferrari would have won it comfortably.

Glad Michael's OK, car looked pretty banged up.

Yes my feeling was that the Ferrari set-up was compromised although I suppose that tyre choice might have been a factor given the cold start problems - too hard perhaps?.

I would be curious to know how "green" the track was. Apparently there had been some re-surfacing carried out.

PdeRL

[Chris G.]

Originally posted by eoin
Its shunts like these that could convince him to call it a day. He has nothing to prove, and everything to lose.

As long as they have the desire to race, all the drivers have something to prove. That's the point. He ain't leaving until he loses the desire to race.

btw, atlas has 4 photos of it. MS looks awfully stern.

[Keelan]

Originally posted by CONOSUR

Where's Atlas on this?

Maybe Bira is on vacation?

[Dmitriy_Guller]

He sure has a habit of hitting Monza walls. It seems like Schumacher and Badoer always suffer disproportionate share of hard crashes during testing. I also wonder about the effect exploding tires have on driver's confidence, it must be disconcerting not being able to completely trust your equipment.

[w00t]

This must feel especially scary for michael especially since ralfs current state. I hope these things won't affect schumis performance, like some say it has affecteds ralfs pace, but it didn't back at Silverstone when he broke his leg, but still thats five years/wdcs ago. Even if it would affect his performance, he would probably be able to win the remaining races, bringing back confidence to his equipment.

IF spa was showing that ferrari ain't so dominant anymore it would be terrible to link that to this crash to show that schumi has lost his edge. I simply want to see a really tough fight next season between a schumi in his prime vs the 2 McLaren drivers in an extrodinary McLaren car WITHOUT any thoughts of schumi losing his edge because of a crash. So I must actually hope that he does well the remaining part of the season, crush rubens, and wins the remaining races. If nothing else it will be great for my economy 100$ a race on schumi -> win-win situation: either I get rich or schumi get beaten fair and square!

[fastlegs]

According to an article I was just reading at Autosport.com, MS was traveling at 220 MPH when his tire blew.

I knew he was going fast at the time of the incident, but I didn't know he was going that fast.

He is a very fortunate man to walk away from such an impact without sustaining serious injuries.

[bira]

Originally posted by Keelan
Maybe Bira is on vacation?

Atlas F1 isn't just me, you know

We published a very detailed story on 17:53 GMT+1 (UK time) -- which is about 7 minutes after this thread was started and about 20 minutes after it was first reported (without details) on f1racing.net. Sometimes, especially with stories like this, speed is - for us - not as detrimental as details. Contacting Sabine Kehm and getting the exact details, his condition and her quotes are worth the 20-30 minutes' wait.

[JForce]

which I would rather you did, than simply publish something that makes me think he's Senna'd it into the wall or something

[HSJ]

Originally posted by karlth
Just read in Autosport that Bridgestone felt "ashamed" by their performance at Spa and will not let it happen again.

That's odd. If you followed Ferrari and Sauber at Spa it was pretty clear that Bstone was the better tyre (much less drop off after first two laps than Michelin, that's why). This showed particularly well on Friday, but just because Ferrari and to lesser extent Sauber didn't make the most of their tyres on Sunday doesn't mean Bstone suddenly sucked. It is not the tyres' fault. (Just like McLaren in Hungary did not make most of their tyres.) Maybe they were embarrassed to not dominate as per usual. Oh wait a minute, maybe it was the performance they had after SC periods that made them ashamed?

[HSJ]

Originally posted by Ricardo F1


Michael WAS quick later in the day. His pace wasn't that bad, but the starts on cold tyres saw him past by numerous drivers. Chances are he simply had a car more set up for wet than Kimi and co, people have posted pics of a rather large back wing on the Ferrari. Dry qualifying, dry race, everything being equal I believe Ferrari would have won it comfortably.

Glad Michael's OK, car looked pretty banged up.

http://www.atlasf1.c.../id/14264/.html

Ross Brawn: "Given the conditions, the fact we were still fighting for pole is a good result. I don't think being second on the grid tomorrow is such a problem as a racing line will not have formed on the track by the time the race starts. We have a good dry set-up and our indications are that we will have a dry race tomorrow. It's a shame Rubens had a little problem at the end of his lap, as it means he now has more work to do. In fact, we advised Michael to be cautious after seeing Raikkonen and Rubens nearly come off the track and so he rightly took it quite easy in the last sector. I think we will be in a strong position tomorrow as we did not compromise today and ran with a dry set-up."

David Coulthard - 4th: "I was a little bit worried at the start of my lap as it began to rain. However, the intermediates we chose to use shortly before my run gave us a good qualifying time, especially as this was my first lap on these tyres. The car has been set up for the race with dry weather in mind as is predicted, so we will have to wait and see tomorrow, but I feel we will have a strong race."

Kimi Raikkonen - 10th: "Unfortunately it started raining heavily during my run. I made a mistake in the last chicane, which cost me some time. However, from our performance yesterday in the dry I think we should be looking OK in the race when the weather hopefully will be dry again. The overall performance of my car has been good from the start of the weekend, so I am looking forward to tomorrow even though I am starting from tenth position."

MS's setup (wings) on Friday and Sunday.

Pretty much the whole grid ran dry setup in quali because they all knew the race would be dry. Enough of the excuses.

[JForce]

Originally posted by HSJ


That's odd. If you followed Ferrari and Sauber at Spa it was pretty clear that Bstone was the better tyre (much less drop off after first two laps than Michelin, that's why). This showed particularly well on Friday, but just because Ferrari and to lesser extent Sauber didn't make the most of their tyres on Sunday doesn't mean Bstone suddenly sucked. It is not the tyres' fault. (Just like McLaren in Hungary did not make most of their tyres.) Maybe they were embarrassed to not dominate as per usual. Oh wait a minute, maybe it was the performance they had after SC periods that made them ashamed?

when deciding which tyres was better you need to look at the race as a whole. BS has spanked Michellin this season, but at Spa the Michellins were superior on the whole.

[Menace]

Originally posted by JForce


when deciding which tyres was better you need to look at the race as a whole. BS has spanked Michellin this season, but at Spa the Michellins were superior on the whole.

Michelins were superior on the first few laps after safety-car and start, atleast thats according to MS.

[JForce]

Originally posted by Menace


Michelins were superior on the first few laps after safety-car and start, atleast thats according to MS.

Correct. Even in the middle and end of their stints, they were at best slightly slower than the BStones. Overall, a better tyre to be on for the race, wouldn't you agree?

[DEVO]

When I first saw the picture on his back I was hoping everything was ok... then I was thinking, will he retire after this? At least for the season? I hope not.