Tragedy rears its ugly head...again.

[Jay]

It has just been announced that Paolo Gislimberti, a 33-year-old fire marshal, who was hit by a flying wheel in the huge second chicane accident at the Italian Grand Prix, has died in hospital.

The first of the shunts was caused when Heinz-Harald Frentzen tried to overtake Rubens Barrichello and the two collided, sliding off the track and collecting Jarno Trulli and David Coulthard on their way. Then Pedro de la Rosa ran into the back of Johnny Herbert, totally destroying the back of the Jaguar, and was launched into the air. He landed upside down, touching other cars in the gravel trap, with debris flying everywhere.

The marshal appears to have been struck on the head by a flying wheel and was seriously injured. He was given heart massage beside the track for some time before being taken to hospital in a serious condition. It was announced by the end of the race that he had died from head and chest injuries.

All the drivers involved in the accidents were asked to wait until the end of the race, as is normal practice, to make a statement to the Stewards. Now the marshal has died they may well have to give information to the police, and in Italy this may result in court action.

When Ayrton Senna died in the San Marino GP (which is held at Imola in Italy) in 1994 several people were charged. The designers of his car, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey, team boss Frank Williams, Roland Bruynseraede (the FIA inspector who had approved the
Imola track for racing), Federico Bendinelli and Giorgio Poggi (members of the management of the Imola circuit) were all tried on a manslaughter charge. They were later acquitted.

-courtesy of formula1.com

Unfortunately, tragedy in racing had become much more common in the last year. What are we to think?

[Ralf's Girl]

To begin with, I thought it was Pedro de la Rosa, after the way his car went into the gravel. I should think that the death of a driver would have been more serious to formula one, but the death of anyone is a terrible tragedy.

People nowadays take for granted the fact that motor racing is a lot safer than it was, but this should serve as a wake-up call for the people who don't realise that you can never take the danger out of a sport like F1.

[Tristan]

......or any sport for that matter. More people die playing FOOTBALL (ie Soccer, BTW) that in motorsport. We must remeber that at that very chicane modifications have only just been made to increase the run-off area. The modifications could not have prevented the accident (that could have happened last year) but they without doubt helped in the ultimate saftey of the drivers.

A wheel hitting a marshal is, tragically, a fluke, an unavoidable occurance. A wheel CANNOT be attaced to an F1 car at loads exceeding 5 tons. What we saw today was unavoidable and no rule changes can help it.

What we DID see today was, I felt, a testimony to the SAFTEY of F1. Cars, laden with fuel, spinning through the air managed to do so in a way that there was no injury to any driver. No fire, no hassle. "They just walked away" to coin an old cliché.

However, as Jim Rosenthal showed us on F1-ITV, on every pass it states "MOTORSPORT IS DANGEROUS". Mr Gislimberti would have been aware of this and, by being a marshall, he took that risk. Tragically, and by nothing more than misfortune, that gamble didn't pay off.

[Liz]

Query: Why don't CART wheels fly off now they are tethered, and F1 wheels almost always do?

[Tristan]

They are identical tehters in both CART and F1. See my explaination under the topic "everything that's wrong in F1", Liz< and all will be revealed (ie I can't be bothered to write it all out again!!)

[EERO]

I'm sure all of our thoughts are with Paolo Ginslinsberti and his family.

All in all, a strange and sad day.

[wodonnell]

I thought it was Pedro too.

We got shots of Coulthard, Barrichello and both Jordan drivers wandering about, but never a shot of De La Rosa.

The we got a shot of the "Schumacher Sheet" which was supposed to hide what was going on, but the camera picked up at least the top half of the doctor who was giving heart massage to someone we now know was the marshall.

I think that this accident and the Spa accident in 1998 reinforce the fact that the safest place to be during an F1 race is actually in the car. That said though, I think it wouldn't have taken much for 2 or 3 drivers to have been seriously injured or killed. If Barrichello and Coulthard had evacuated their cars within the regulation 5 seconds the results would have been (more) horrific.

[Sparky]

You're right, Mr Gislimberti was aware of the risks, but it doesn't make it any easier to comprehend.

Did any one else see the wheel/tyre that was launched vertically into the air? it must have been over 70 - 80 feet. When I first saw it, I thought it had to be a piece of wing or suspension, it looked tiny. Then the camera zoomed in as the wheel fell to earth again. Unbeleivable.

By the way, I didn't enjoy listening to the other drivers blaming each other for the incident; what they were saying was "You're responsible for the life of that marshall."
If it does come to prosecution of driver(s), I wonder how many accusations will be flying then.

I'm sorry if what I'm saying is unpalettable or incoherent, these are my thoughts and I'm pretty upset right now.

[Cameron]

As for responsibility what about the officials who approved the re-design and ignored the warnings from the drives.

[steve nielsen]

The latest news is that the object that hit the marshall was probably Pedro de la Rosa's rear wing.

I was so happy when Jos finnished 4th today , but after the race the dutch commentator got the news, very sad ending to a day where most Jos Verstappen fans wanted to party, the on board radio of the Arrows team was working again today BTW, and this happend after the finish:

Chris(Jos'engineer): good job Jos!!
Jos: good teamwork Chris!!, is Pedro OK???
Chris: Yes he's OK

to think of that only 10 meters after the finish show's that Jos is'nt just a great driver, he's a great person!!

[downforce]

DAMN!!....in this HI-TECH sport of ours, does it cost much to make bullet-proof Cubicles at vantage points to house the marshalls!!!????
The overhead[chopper] shot of the medics pumping the 'victims' chest led my friends and I to believe that 'Pedro' wouldnt see another day...the poor 30yr old marshall.May his soul RIP.

Race for...
Rubens?...pathetic stuff
Coultard?...what goes around comes around, Hah!!
Jordans?...sit out 2000
Pedro?...how man how??????

[R]

I don't think it will come to a prosecution. As we saw in 94, it is WHO gets killed that matters (no trial because of Ratzenberger's death).

[botsquad]

my thumbs up for the life of Paolo Ginslinsberti. a hero.

[Jay]

Cameron, this incident had nothing to do with the redesign, it could have happened at any GP corner.

As for the redesign, it is a HUGE improvement, but an even better improvement would be to simply widen the road around the 1st chicane. The second chicane is as safe as it will get. Unfortunately, these things happen.

[Cameron]

I hear what you are saying but lets beg to differ.

[Jay]

Cameron, I should have mentioned that where the big accident happened, there were no modifications. The entry to that chicane has been the same way for nearly 30 years. The apexes and exit of the chicane were made wider, and like the first corner, safer.

[bobdrummond]

Formula 1, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone make me want to puke. A man lay on the edge of a track dying and they didn't even have the decency to red flag the race. Why? Because TGF was in the lead and a Ferrari winning at Monza and heating up the title race is good for F1. To hell with the fact that just over the barrier where the poor man was hit, F1's most treasured medic, Prof. Watkins was trying to save the Marshals life. If a driver had made a mistake whilst keeping his tyres warm, the tradgedy could have been compounded.


Can F1 become any more shallow?

[Liz]

If I'd been there this year in the seat I had last year, that accident would have happened right in my lap.

Ye Gods.

Bobdrummond, I agree with you ... but when the race continued after Senna was killed, I asked that question, and when Greg Moore was killed a lot of us asked that question. And the answer was that those who were killed would have asked that the show go on. Since I heard this from a lot of pilots, I have reluctantly decided there must be something to it.

But as I watched the CART race today, I thought often of the Marshalls out there with nothing between them and death but the skill of the pilots and the hand of God.

[Mr.S]

I remember standing at the chicane in Vancouver as they were trying to remove Carpantier's car from the wall. I remember thinking that even though they were behind the pace car the cars were still going damn fast through there. All one of the Marshalls had to do was take a step back or trip over some body work and he's dead. They are brave.

[R]

To your first point, Liz, I saw today there were grandstands just a few metres further down the road from where the marshal was treated. If that flying object that hit him had flown more in that direction, several spectators could have been injured or dead. But with a wheel flying - what - 60 metres up in the air(?), what can be done? Sadly I don't think it can ever be made completely safe for the marshals, nor for the spectators.

[Toth]

I have the deepest respect for marshals and the other crew. They risk they're lives for our sport and they don't get much in return. An accident like this is sad, this was the first fatal accident I have witnessed. I know danger is part of racing and it will always be like that. It's just sad.

[Cameron]

Jay I accept your point, however, my views were based on the cumulative effect.

In my view, and only my view, the insertion of a new chicane directly contributed to this terrible tradgedy.

There are some further posts under chican

[RussianFriend]

Everytime I saw any marshal crossing the road to put a piece of crashed bolid I was rapt of his selflessness. This job is as dangerous as fireman's one. Can FIA vake it safer? Maybe, but the only way to avoid accidents is to stands bolids to the lane and to choose the winner by lottery.