The US GP farce

[Knowlesy]

Isn't it sad that in this modern era of F1 we have such stupid stewarding and race directing?

Why wasn't the race red flagged during Ralfs accident?

Why did they let JPM risk his life for 80% of the race before telling him he was disqualified?

Why did help for Ralf take as long as a glacial shift?

And while I'm at it, do we really need to race on an oval section? The cars aren't designed to hit concrete at 200mph like IRL cars.

Interesting to see if Indy is still on the calendar next year.........hopefully it will be, but only after some pretty drastic improvements!

[boom boom]

where did he hit in the corner with the safer barrier or more on the straight where the safer barrier ends... I know with indy the cars go the other way around so the barrier really need not start as soon as it ends.. but F1 goes the oppistie way, so maybe there is concern there as well, but i haven't seen the race yet and do not knwo where he crashed
I agree with you on the race knowlesy.... hopefully they learn some lesson

[jetsetter]

I can't see the teams being very happy at what went on in the stewards room today, the decision making process as a whole needs to be reviewed & fixed before France in two weeks time.

[300kph]

The race is a candidate to be the worst this year when it comes to administration...it's frustrating...

[tangoed sparky]

I seems that you have to be german and driving a red car to get a race stop. When michael broke his leg at silverstone that was a race stop even though he was off the track at the back of the gravel trap. This is the second time that they have carried on running with a driver ill in his car on the circuit. That should have been a red flag IMO.
Also why I am complaining why does michel always get away with almost breaking the rules?

[Adam43]

I've split the what caused Ralf's accident into another thread

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...threadid=55942

[Phoenix1]

1) You know what bothered me most about everything the time it took for marshalls in both the Ralf and Alonso incident to response.

2) Why run cars through mess when there is a clean pit lane.

3) Why run cars, on lap one/two, through mess when there is an oval to bypass it?

4) Why not red flag the race on lap 1

5) Why take longer than FIA stated time to tell Williams about JPM and then inforce another rule, pot/kettle?

6) Why no blowers to remove mess on track? CART has blowers why does an IRL track not have one (not CART/IRL fighting please just a point, IRL might have them but I not watch many of there races!)

That will do.. for now!

[freud]

I was a bit worried when the medical team took too long to get to Ralf. Imho medical personnel should've been there within 15 seconds, even if they'd have to drive in the opposite direction on the track.

[jetsetter]

The most worrying aspect was that it took what seemed like an eternity for them to get to an accident, it's just not good enough.

[Gt_R]

I too was amazed how slow the stewards take to get to Ralf, who is obviously in with some problems. The medical team was slow to get to the scene unlike usual FIA standards.. and even after securing Ralf, the medical vehicle was slow to get to the centre.

As for Juan..i've too think the reaction from the FIA is slow..but i would guess Williams had a few personnels discussing the situation and hence would have delayed the decision making.

[tangoed sparky]

As a marshal I agree they did seem to take along time to get to the incidents. I think that in alot of US racing they do not go track side from the marshals posts it is usualy done by a fast response car/pick up. Maybe they were scared or busy eating donuts. I for one noticed that there was a marshal sat on the track wall at one corner and this is a nono in the uk. Also when marshaling at a GP you are required to wear a tabard with an indiviual FIA number on it so that they can keep an eye on you. I did not see any of the US marshals wearing a tabard. Maybe they do not have to?

[f1manoz]

Race should have been red-flagged after Ralf's accident. Where were the doctor's? They took so long to get there. What was REALLY stupid was making the cars travel through the accident area. Even if they didn't want to stop the race, they should have at least gone through the pit-lane. Some very poor stewarding...

And let's not even get started on the JPM situation. That was just ridiculous.

[Down F0rce]

The SAFER barrier (NOT concrete!!!!) would have taken a lot of the energey off Ralf in his accident. Had he actully hit concrete, he would be a lot worse than he is right now.

[elspethhardie]

Yeh i have said it over and over again mostly at my friend who isnt interested in f1 but im teaching her! i thought there was a certain period of time after an incident for the stewards to inform a team of an investigation and take action. in the back of my brain it is about 10laps (probably wrong) but it definatly not the amount of time they took to let monty know! Why did this happen?

[Sodemo]

Unfortuntly TV schedules now take presidence over the lives of drivers. They won't stop races any more as it messes up TV schedules, I mean when was the last red flag (aside from Brazil 2003 which was at the end of the race)

[tangoed sparky]

Maybe its been that long since the last red flag that some of the drivers might not know what they mean.

[Kartracer88f]

Actually Downforce he missed the SAFER by about 10 feet and did hit the concrete directly which made the lack of medical response all the more disgusting. I have seen a local amateur kart race with a quicker medical response. Jeezy

[Nizmo32_josh]

Can i also point out that when TGF made that magic restart the the timing monitors showed him as being 1 across the line. it dissapeared thn came back on with barri. in the lead of 0.00 ?????? The race was a farce..yes! BUT was it rigged???

[Inigo Montoya]

Oh God, the race rigged? More conspiracy bs? Pleeaaase...

[avsfan733]

Originally posted by tangoed sparky
I seems that you have to be german and driving a red car to get a race stop. When michael broke his leg at silverstone that was a race stop even though he was off the track at the back of the gravel trap.
Also why I am complaining why does michel always get away with almost breaking the rules?

Can we stop the conspiracy **** please that race was red flagged before michael's accident even occured

what should they do if he alsmost breaks the rules ALMOST penalize him?

I agree with the red flag comments though I thin kthe race should have been red flagged. Now I'm no marshal butit would seem that for the afety of the drivers the Marshals should be told not to touch or go near a possibly injured driver until Sid is there

As for going through the pitlane, that just creates a serious danger if anyone where to pit because I don't think there is a procedure for closing the pits, also imagine if DeMatta had lost his gearbox in line in the pitlane the chaos of people trying to avoid him

[Teretonga]

Ralf was in communication with his pit-not mortally wounded thogh it may have been serious. They did take too long to get their but this is the FIA safety crew after all,not CART, IRL or OWRS.

There probably is not a procedure for closing the track and using the pit lane-but there should be. The reason probably is that at most F1 circuits the straight is not the scene of most accidents and besides at most circuits the oit lane is not wide enough to do so safely and also at most circuits you have run off and the cars are rarely left in the centre of the track - Indy is unique in that respect amongst F1 circuits.
As for the Montoya decision...I'm a steward and I simply have nothing to say I can repeat here... The drivers have asked in the past for professional stewards and this really takes the cake. It should have been sorted out in the first five laps.

[Super Tourer]

I think they should of red flagged the race, the safety car procedure was brought into to enable marshalls to safely clear 'minor' problems out of the way without disrupting the racing.

A driver sat apparently injured in the middle of the racetrack with a sea of debris around him, constituted a red flag and clear up IMO. If a situation like that is not deemed serious enough for a red flag, then one can only imagine what would ?

I'm sure that if a formula ford were sat in the middle of paddock hill bend at Brands Hatch, with the driver still inside and not attempting to get out - the red flag would have come out.

[Gt_R]

Once again, it would be appreciated if people bother to check their info before posting another misinformed accusation of poor taste

Silverstone, as a733 said, is red flagged BEFORE MS spear off track.

but that is Off topics.

Back to USGP, i do think that a RED flag is absolutely necessary after Ralf's accident. Alonso's accident (puncture) and Ralf's accident (unknown at that point) should have suggested to the FIA that there's a good chance that something is wrong.

Furthermore, a red flag is absolutely important as it allows the medical team to get to Ralf and attend to him without the interference of other cars driving around them. I am quite irritated when i see the medical team having to make their way through the traffic, and that the ambulance isn't given a clean track to get to the medical centre as fast as possible.


Also, to spend so many laps wasted under a safety car poses a new set of danger to drivers who's tyres may have lost their pressure.

Finally, even without Red flag...i'm shocked they still allow the cars + safety car run over the debris on the track left over by Ralf's accident. It doesn't take a genius to order the cars to bypass the accident site using the pitlane. High speed + sharp debris + low pressure/temp = a potentially huge accident.

FIA needs to study this case carefully and instruct the race control of better handling of similar situation in the future.

[Mr V]

Was Silverstone 99 the last time a red flag was thrown in a race? I can't recall one since, maybe Nurburgring 1999 (after Diniz's accident?) but i'm not 100% certain.

:confused:

[jetsetter]

Brazil 2003 the race was red flagged & ended prematurely after Alonso went crashing through Webber's debris.