Nasty accident in practice

[Crank Case]

Bernoldi crashed in the senna s big accident small fire lost a wheel.
The medical car comes out the driver opens his door and Heidfeld comes flying down and crashes into the medical car door luckily the driver of the medical car didnt get out other wise we would have been looking at a very nasty accident

[M Coupe]

Sound nasty,

How did you find out??

[Marcel ten Caat]

http://www.f1-video.kiev.ua/Brazilia/WarmUp/sauber.avi

What was Heidfeld thinking?

[Crank Case]

I was watching it on F1 digital
To be fair to Heidfeld there did seem to be a mix up with the flags the red flag just came out as he arrived.
But two cars did pass the incident with out problem they went the other side.
Heidfeld just seemed to arrive too quickly he said he didn't see any warnings at all in car or flags.

blimey they got that clip up quick

[cos]

The two Minardis had a little coming together, and McNIsh and Bernoldi were jostling in the pit lane or something, according to Autosport.

[LucaBadoer]

yeah - i couldnt believe that the team hadn't informed Nick of the red flag sooner. He either had to try and squeeze past the medical car or hit Enrique as he was getting out of his Arrows...

And the medical cars door opens... Lucky escape.

[Ian-S]

Double lucky really, look at the Marshall on the right by the tyre wall....

Alex Ribero is the pace car driver (sorry for bad spelling).

From what German I can understand, there was no yellow flags (pictures confirm this) and no blame is being pointed at Heidfield, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in a no-win situation.

[Crank Case]

Originally posted by cos
The two Minardis had a little coming together, and McNIsh and Bernoldi were jostling in the pit lane or something, according to Autosport.

Yea I saw that Mc Nish very nearly over took him in the pit lane entry then Bernoldi did a little swerve in front of him.
It looked like Mc Nish was caught out by Bernoldi hitting the rev limiter

[Mania]

Hiedfeld seems to like taking to the grass doesent he? Perhaps he should consider mowing lawns in his spare time!

[LucaBadoer]

Originally posted by Ian-S
he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time in a no-win situation.

yes, but he shouldn't have been put into that situation in the first place. From what I saw on F1 digital +, several cars passed Bernoldi after the crash - including TGF, one of the Toyotas and PDLR. I'm sure that there must have been enough time for the team to have warned Nick...

[twig]

they need to get a new system or rules concerning how many people/where/when/and under what conditions they can be on the track, that does include the medical car.

I think they need to have at least the 5 marshal posts aware what flag should be shown so that drivers are aware, and also, i think they should keep both doors shut as much as possible, that was very dangerous.

the doors should only be open when the 5 earlier marshal points are showing a yellow or red flag.

[Number Juan]

can you see the driver's arms flailing about in the car? (medical car) lucky he didnt get struck by any debris as well. a lucky escape for everybody.

[Ian-S]

I've just watched it again and there were no flags at all, only just as Nick was coming around the corner did the marshall on the post pop out the red flag and by hen it was too late.

What would have happened if he had decided to go the other way and hit Bernoldi instead of the pace car - bye bye bernoldi perhaps? (seeing as he was getting out at the time - idiot!)

Alex was just getting out of the pace car at the time (you can see his leg under the doorline), very lucky boy!

[Ian-S]

Originally posted by LucaBadoer

I'm sure that there must have been enough time for the team to have warned Nick...

Why should the team do the job of the Marshalls and officials?

(No disrespect to Marshalls, but surely one could have found the time to pick up a yellow flag instead of looking at Bernoldi's car?)

[StuiE]

that could have been really bad, very lucky for all involved

[Daytona Donald]

Avoidable accident? back 10 places young heidfeld!!!!

only joking......glad he's ok

[KC]

I know a lot of F1 fans condemn CART, NASCAR and the IRL for being ultra-quick on the full course caution flag too often and they are guilty of this to a large degree. But, in this case the constant use of the limited yellow flag has not enforced adequate safety measures from the drivers. A very experienced driver such as MS responded immediately to what was going on before he arrived at the corner and to his credit slowed down to a crawl to avoid an incident with an obstructed track. However, Heidfeld did not and could have easily killed a track marshall. He was inattentive and not acting swiftly eenough to respond to the yellow flag. The insistence of the FIA to use limited yellow flags when incidents such as this occur does not ingrain safe driving into the heads of the drivers nearly enough in my opinion. We have all seen drivers make token attempts at slowing during a caution. Jacques Villeneuve has been fined for not slowing his pace in a yellow zone at all in the past. It is not the decision of the driver to determine if the situation is safe or not, the marshals have already decided. Heidfeld did not slow enough to safely make the corner much less attempt to reduce his speed to respond to the yellow flag and he was lucky to not have cut the legs off the marshall.

This needs to be addressed, but since the only casualty was to the Sauber and the door of the safety car, all will remain status quo. It is the FIA after all.

[djb]

Good points KC, and I see that you are back online. (I hope that you aren't at work this time!0
I haven't seen any footage of this incident, and so do not have really an informed idea of what amount of time elapsed from the time of the crash, but one would think that communications between the marshals could have been faster in terms of getting some waved yellows out there. I recall 3 or 4 years ago seeing an Aussie rider competing in the US superbike series nearly hitting an ambulance that he couldn"t see over a crest. The guy was beside himself afterwards about how the signalling wasn't more evident. I just hope that a lesson will be learned, for whoever was more at fault , so that the next time clearer warnings will be out.

[f1manoz]

I've managed to find a good 30 second clip of the incident and must say the driver of the Mercedes is a lucky boy as Heidfeld took a good chunck out of the car door.

As for aportioning blame in this instance, well, it's not my place to But the video clearly indicates that there were no flags waving anywhere around the corner, and it did look as if Nick was just taking his normal line but reacted one tenth of a second too late. However, if the door had not been opened, he would have scraped without damage to either car.

[Marcel ten Caat]

there were flags, a green and an oil flag...but the moment the medical car stops they're pulled in and replaced by a red flag...and between those two moments, Heidfeld comes driving by nearly hits Bernoldi, makes an ultimate evasive action via the grass....and then sees a Mercedes door going open (wonder if he wanted to get to Mercedes in that way)

[NOX]

The race stewards cleared Nick of any blame for the incident and the FIA is looking at the lack of flags at the corner before the incident.

Damn lucky all round really.

[KC]

I just find it strange that other racers were avoiding the incident and he was suddenly unable to do so. I think that the methodolgy used by the FIA, at times, does not encourage some drivers to give adequate respect to the caution flags.

The insistence of the FIA to use volunteer people to run the biggest and most expensive form of racing on the face of the Earth still amazes me. As much money as the FIA makes on F1, as much as they spend on security and paperwork yet they continue to use people with unknown skills at positions where lives are at stake. With all due respect to the volunteers, who give up their time to do this, why doesn't the FIA have a crew of flag marshals for this job? I bet Bernie and Max have an entire staff of aids and flunkies to fetch them tea and a biscuit at their whim during a GP, yet when lives are at stake trackside, virtual amateurs are used.

[Baby Spice]

go to f1onboard.com if you guy want ot see it.

[Ian-S]

Originally posted by KC
I just find it strange that other racers were avoiding the incident and he was suddenly unable to do so.

Because quiet simply, the other two cars could see the accident infront of them as it happened, as Nick came around the corners, one of those cars was in direct line of sight between the Arrows and Nick, so as far as he was concerned, coupled with the fact of no yellow flags, the other car was simply driving slowly...

[TwoSheds]

Originally posted by KC
[cut]
The insistence of the FIA to use volunteer people to run the biggest and most expensive form of racing on the face of the Earth still amazes me. As much money as the FIA makes on F1, as much as they spend on security and paperwork yet they continue to use people with unknown skills at positions where lives are at stake.
[cut]

I don't know how other countries do this but here in the UK all marshalls selcted for the GP will have been trained for the roles they perform (flag, incident, course, fire etc.). This training is both theoretical and practical (at both training sessons and at race meetings over a long period of time) and they are very aware of the seriousness of their duties.