Romain Grosjean

[irie]

Blimey, he was lucky to get away with that!

[G.P]

[MingtheMerciless]

Broken rib according to Beeb, bloody hell that's a huge impact and that fire! A testament to the safety devices and procedures and also a bit of luck.

[GuzziPaul]

Yup, was watching that live and thought he was dead when I saw the crash in the background. Impressive how the car/halo managed to part the armco and the driver cell paas far enough through he wasn't trapped.

[McNab]

He's lucky to survive that, but it does seem to be a problem of his own making though.

Well done to the medical car team, but also to the trackside marshals that also ran to help without a second thought as the TV coverage seemed to ignore them in favour or the car guys.

The barrier seems to be a problem in more ways than one. It clearly shouldn't have split allowing the front of the car through, but also, the positioning of it seems questionable, with it being quite close to the track (behind it is acres of empty ground) and also angled in such a way that it would have directed him back on to the track had he not become entangled in it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I would imagine the FIA are currently undertaking a pretty rapid review of all tracks and where/how armco is used. If it hadn't been for the Halo Grosjean would now be headless. Not all open wheeled cars have Halos of course....

[McNab]

It's slightly ironic that Grosjean was one of the biggest opponents of the halo for a long time.

And also it's nice that he acknowledged that in his statement from his hospital bed.

Is that it for his F1 career now? I can't see him racing next week, and possibly not in Abu Dhabi the week after either.

[Bigjawa]

I would imagine the FIA are currently undertaking a pretty rapid review of all tracks and where/how armco is used. If it hadn't been for the Halo Grosjean would now be headless. Not all open wheeled cars have Halos of course....

You're the F1 chap for this parish, what made the fireball? Back half looked unscathed

[irie]

I think the 140mph point load side impact fractured engine mounts which then punctured the central fuel cells.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I would imagine the FIA are currently undertaking a pretty rapid review of all tracks and where/how armco is used. If it hadn't been for the Halo Grosjean would now be headless. Not all open wheeled cars have Halos of course....

You're the F1 chap for this parish, what made the fireball? Back half looked unscathed

Drivers safety cell got wedged in the armco, the back end kept going. The safety cell is exactly what it sounds like, it also doubles as the main structural monocoque. The engine and back end are bolted to it. Those bolts are not intended to keep the back on during crashes, obviously they're pretty tough but ultimately the back if the car is not needed for a crash.

The sudden stop was just too much, so the safety cell did its job and the back kept going. The fuel tank - which is actually a bag - is located in the centre of the car (partly to prevent CoG changes as it empties) so when the car split down the middle it just got ripped in half.

Normally you don't see fireballs cause the fuel bag is an extremely tough multi layered kevlar affair. Its a bag to stop fireballs, the idea is that it deforms with crashes rather than spilling. When you rip the car in half though...

[Bigyin]

He's lucky to survive that, but it does seem to be a problem of his own making though.

Well done to the medical car team, but also to the trackside marshals that also ran to help without a second thought as the TV coverage seemed to ignore them in favour or the car guys.

The barrier seems to be a problem in more ways than one. It clearly shouldn't have split allowing the front of the car through, but also, the positioning of it seems questionable, with it being quite close to the track (behind it is acres of empty ground) and also angled in such a way that it would have directed him back on to the track had he not become entangled in it.

At a lot of foreign tracks even for the big FIA meetings the majority of marshals just wear their own clothes with a bib over the top to designate them as marshals. The guys at the designated fire points have proper firefighting clothing. When i worked trackside i had the choice of doing similar with basic overalls but opted for proper FIA rated fire resistant Orange overalls a few mates were wearing and after the first fire i dealt with i was glad of them. They might not catch light straight away allows you to get a bit closer to deal with stuff but the heat from a fuel fire is the main issue. We didnt have many issuses on bikes as the riders are generally separate from the machine but its different with cars with strapped in drivers and I dread to think what the heat from a fire that big in such a small space must have felt like

Most armco is designed to either run the crashed vehicle along it or punt it back onto track away from service roads etc where unprotected vehic;es and persons are. The one he hit was covering a service road as it was on a narrowing stretch of track well away from the main part of the corner that you would expect cars to leave the circuit ...... The fact he swerved quickly from a closing gap on the left towards an empty part of track without realising or checking there were cars behind/almost alongside vastly contributed to it. Even from his own onboard you can see he passes 2 cars on his right just before the cars in front bunch but doesnt check his right mirror, just puts the steering input in and goes

[Mr. Dazzle]

It also worth noting that the apparently clean break of the car is a bit misleading. The structural part of the car is shredded, the nice clean looking split is just a function of how the (non structural) engine cover attaches. 99% of the cover kept going with the back of the car, so the dead straight break line is just where the panel gap is.

On closer examination of the photos it looks like maybe the engine and radiators stayed with the front and its only the gearbox that's departed.

[Dodgy69]

Good job he wasn't knocked out.

[MingtheMerciless]

Good job he wasn't knocked out.

53G impact according to Beeb, so I wonder if a few seconds were spent collecting himself before attempting to get out?

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just been reading this document out of curiosity, I couldn't really contextualise 53g.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... niiul4XU9p

Apparently the human tolerance level for "eyes out" acceleration (great phrasing ) is about 45g, so I can imagine it may have taken a while to gather his thoughts.

[Bigyin]

Good job he wasn't knocked out.

53G impact according to Beeb, so I wonder if a few seconds were spent collecting himself before attempting to get out?

Probably WTF happened, have i stopped moving, why is there flames everywhere .....fuck, get out

There was a delay before he started getting out as the medic was already from the car and at the barrier pointing for the fire marshal to aim at the cockpit area to beat the fire there back a bit. Only then do you see Grosjean start to move within the cockpit. To be fair in that fireball he wouldnt have had a clue which way to go so the blast from the marshal extinguisher would have created a channel for him to aim at

[cheb]

Just been reading this document out of curiosity, I couldn't really contextualise 53g.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... niiul4XU9p

Apparently the human tolerance level for "eyes out" acceleration (great phrasing ) is about 45g, so I can imagine it may have taken a while to gather his thoughts.

You'll have read about John Stapp? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stapp