[Official] Bahrain Grand Prix 2020: Grand Prix Weekend Thread - Round 15 of 17

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Hopefully it is still good for the race ahead!

Apparently there is a 45min delay until the restart.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Watching the safety crew working on the barrier, should it have failed like that? Grosjean went straight through it.

Well he hit it at a fair old lick at a horrible angle. It will always fold up like that.

Probably should be protected a bit better, seem to be a lot of these barriers poking around where you think "hmm, bit dodgy that". Not that you can cover every eventuality.

[fieldodreams79]

Happy to see Roman get away with that, seemingly, for the most part. I have some strong opinions of the man and that type of barrier, but I'll hold those and just hope to have a safe finish today and have him fully recover.

Edit
Just seeing it again. I can't believe he got out of that. Unbelievable

[Anyopenroad]

Incredible demonstration of the safety of modern F1 cars. Astonishing.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

That close up of Grosjean getting out, jumping almost literally into the arms of Dr Ian Roberts, as Alan van der Merwe, with the fire extinguisher from the back of the medical car spraying it over them.

Just incredible

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Well he hit it at a fair old lick at a horrible angle. It will always fold up like that.

Probably should be protected a bit better, seem to be a lot of these barriers poking around where you think "hmm, bit dodgy that". Not that you can cover every eventuality.

He must have been doing about 130-140 Mph and hit the barrier at roughly a 45˚ angle but somehow he went through the barrier, it didn't fold up.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Well he hit it at a fair old lick at a horrible angle. It will always fold up like that.

Probably should be protected a bit better, seem to be a lot of these barriers poking around where you think "hmm, bit dodgy that". Not that you can cover every eventuality.

The barriers have a slight angle to the track to allow for access. Pretty standard in a lot of places. The odd thing is that on the straight he didn’t hit it at an oblique angle.

Can be improved. Obviously. But it can’t be night and day different. More barriers that absorb energy even on the straight would help at the moment they aren’t always in those areas where impacts are unlikely. Another improvement would be massive run offs on the straights as well as the corners.

Of course, the real improvements, as we have seen, are with the car.

And it did pretty well.

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by Greem

I can see an awful lot of changes coming along as a result of this. Not knee-jerk changes, but changes nonetheless.

Lady luck was at the back of the pack today.

Greem, what do you think of the angle of the barrier in relation to the track? Does not seem a safe way to create an opening to get cars through. His velocity perpendicular to the track didn't seem that big.

[Taxi645]

Originally Posted by Adam43

The barriers have a slight angle to the track to allow for access. Pretty standard in a lot of places. The odd thing is that on the straight he didn’t hit it at an oblique angle.

Can be improved. Obviously. But it can’t be night and day different. Only real improvement would be massive run offs on the straights as well as the corners.

Of course, the real improvements, as we have seen, are with the car.

And it did pretty well.

There are other ways to create access. Two parallel barriers with the second off-set to the rear does also create access without create such an angle.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

Greem, what do you think of the angle of the barrier in relation to the track? Does not seem a safe way to create an opening to get cars through. His velocity perpendicular to the track didn't seem that big.

TBH I'm not going to be able to offer a particularly objective opinion until I've calmed down a bit!

But... It's the way it is there because of the multi-circuit layout of the track. There's a right turn for one layout just before where he hit, and I would suggest that having it set back makes the alternate layout safer.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Taxi645

There are other ways to create access. Two parallel barriers with the second off-set to the rear does also create access without create such an angle.

Yes, of course, can always be better, but the reason the angle was odd was mainly down to how he went off rather than that gap.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Watching the safety crew working on the barrier, should it have failed like that? Grosjean went straight through it.

Armco barriers will always be "softer" than several other types of barriers and racing cars of all variants have been punching through them for ages. On the plus-side armco barriers absorbs a lot more energy than, say, a concrete barrier, but, yeah, the major downside was in full effect today.

I'd like to see the SAFER barrier installed at more tracks. It's not an "oval-only" solution, it'd work superbly at all sorts of tracks.

[Taxi645]

Shot from above. Barrier angle doesn't seem that extreme either.

[Anyopenroad]

Saying on commentary that people think only a couple of litres of fuel (from the fuel collector) caught fire. Makes sense - 110kg of fuel going up would be a colossal and unsurvivable explosion.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by rustyfan

I'd like to see the SAFER barrier installed at more tracks. It's not an "oval-only" solution, it'd work superbly at all sorts of tracks.

I’m with you and I think more on the straight energy absorbing crash barriers might be the case.

Even on ovals there are differences to the barriers on the straight and the corners.

(As greem says the time to really have this conversation is not now, so I may change my mind later)

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

Saying on commentary that people think only a couple of litres of fuel (from the fuel collector) caught fire. Makes sense - 110kg of fuel going up would be a colossal and unsurvivable explosion.

I’ve just heard that. I think more than a couple. It was still going though, so I guess, it was still leaking?

[karting]

I’m sorry but that isn’t a fuel fire. That’s a battery fire

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I’ve just heard that. I think more than a couple. It was still going though, so I guess, it was still leaking?

Just hypothesising ofc. Certainly wasn't the whole tank - another demonstration of incredible safety.

Those pictures of Grosjean climbing out of the fire are just...omg.

[ScotsBrutesFan]

The more they show replays, the more incredible Grosjean’s escape is.

Total credit to all the marshals reacting as quickly as they did.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by karting

I’m sorry but that isn’t a fuel fire. That’s a battery fire

Could be, but how can you tell?

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by karting

I’m sorry but that isn’t a fuel fire. That’s a battery fire

Agree with this. It looks to be an international leftie conspiracy to get fuel banned but we all know race fuel can't melt steel barriers.

Battery fires however...

[fieldodreams79]

I'm also thankful that the Marshalls in the safety vehicle had a better fire can than the corner workers: utterly useless

[karting]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Could be, but how can you tell?

It’s a guess, but I’ve seen lots of Lipos go up in flames during Rc race meetings.

They cause big big fires

[Richard C]

My son and I are watching a bit delayed. Insane accident. I was sure he was badly injured or dead. Glad he was out mostly ok. Images are quite shocking. Safety measured worked, but give how it played out, he was still super luck.

I expect lessons to come out of this. My main concern is ability to spear through the armco as easily as it did. Kudos to medical car team. I say this with great respect for marshals, but the one behind the fence with the extinguisher.

Can anyone speak the how much practical training is provided to them on how to use an extinguisher?

Richard

[Greem]

The Bahrain marshals are pretty experienced, but I can't speak for their individual training.

What you have to remember though is that you can see three of them having to vacate the area PDQ when Grosjean headed for the barrier, and then they had to come back with extinguishers from away from the incident.

Whatever training they do get, it will start with "if you can feel the heat you are too close" and that will be repeated throughout. No point getting burned yourself.