In the round-up: Several drivers have expressed concern at how Carlos Sainz Jnr’s car ‘submarined’ beneath the barrier during his crash yesterday.
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Drivers query Tecpro barriers after Carlos Sainz crash in Sochi (Sky)
"It was shocking to see that he was so deep in the barrier and that he was covered in the barrier."
"We shouldn’t be able to go under the barriers because then they are not doing what they are supposed to, which is slow you down before you hit something hard, which he did."
F1 'dodged a bullet' with Carlos Sainz crash - Rob Smedley (ESPN)
"Obviously as the car slides under the Tec-Pro barriers, you first thoughts are 'I hope they haven't gone inside the safety cell'."
Alonso keen to finish with 'experimental parts' (F1i)
"We have some experimental parts in the car, in preparation for next year, so we need to finish the race to give them as much mileage as possible. The cars are in different configurations, to get comparative data, so from that point of view it’s also an interesting weekend even if we’re not competitive."
F1 weekend format being discussed (Autosport)
"Yes there are discussions, but I'm honestly not sure what the right way forward is. Do we want to have qualifying races, reverse grids?"
Hamilton '1000%' behind F1 weekend schedule shake-up (Motorsport)
"I think it would be kind of neat, if one weekend's going to be a 'super weekend,' and the next weekend's going to be something different, alternating grid positions or something."
Formula One commercial secret in its unpredictability - F1 CEO Ecclestone (TASS)
"People like to go to the circus and see the high-wire act. It is dangerous. They do not want to see the guy fall, but it could happen."
Daniil Kyvat hoping first Red Bull season is not his final chapter (The Telegraph)
"Western Europeans don’t really understand Russians. It’s hard. In Italy for example, if you go 50 kilometres north or south, there is a different culture. Imagine 3,000 kilometres between London and Moscow."
Red Bull will not rule out Renault partnership in 2016 (BBC)
"Is it likely we'll be with Renault? Difficult to see that would be the case but in F1 nothing is impossible."
Tweets
So looking forward to talking about the track action and world championship today rather than the lunacy going on in the F1 paddock
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) October 10, 2015
Futile bid to visit circuit museum. Staff told me it was shut until after Sunday's race. Lost in translation or commercial genius at work?
— Alan Baldwin (@alanbaldwinf1) October 10, 2015
Gary Anderson has been in touch. Says "you don't have to be a brain surgeon to realise this was always going to happen with low noses"
— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) October 10, 2015
Todo ok! Nada por lo que preocuparse! Ya pensando en cómo convencer a los médicos para que me dejen correr mañana! pic.twitter.com/8EihihWSnu
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) October 10, 2015
"What a beautiful backdrop for the GP in Sochi" said nobody. Ever.
— Ben Hunt (@benjhunt) October 10, 2015
Will be a boring race again. VET on supersoft same lap time as HAM on sofr. And NAS 2 s off…
— Marco Schuepbach 🏒 (@mschupbach34) October 10, 2015
Horner live on BBC: "Eddie talking out of his arse as usual". #unacceptable.
— James Parrish (@JamesCParrish) October 10, 2015
We haven't had much to pat ourselves on the back for this year but p13 on a power circuit when we lack power isn't a bad job at all
— michael collier (@mikeycollier) October 10, 2015
Just spoke to Murray Walker to wish him a happy 92nd birthday. He's a very special man indeed. A truly lovely human being, a real character
— Martin Brundle (@MBrundleF1) October 10, 2015
Looks like I passed out during the post #qualifying massage ahahahah
A good sign of a good effort 💪👍😉#RussianGP pic.twitter.com/UplnJ8dyXn— Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) October 10, 2015
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
How well did the barrier perform in Carlos Sainz Jnr’s crash?
Have the energy-absorbing barriers done their job of protecting Sainz from the energy of a very high speed front impact, or has the way that the car ‘submarined’ under the barriers, trapping Sainz inside the car with the barriers covering his helmet caused more danger to him than it has prevented? If so, we really need to urgently question whether these types of barriers are fit for purpose.
@Willwood
From the forum
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On this day in F1
‘Fon’ was born on this day in 1928. His full name was Alfonso Antonio Vicente Eduardo Angel Blas Francisco de Borja Cabeza de Vaca y Leighton, Marquis of Portago, which explains why his competitors in the early years of the world championship called him ‘Fon’.
He was the first Spanish driver to stand on the podium at an F1 race, 47 years before Fernando Alonso, when he shared second place in the British Grand Prix with Peter Collins in 1956. However Alfonso de Portago died the following year when he crashed during the Mille Miglia. His co-driver and nine children were also killed.
@HoHum (@hohum)
11th October 2015, 0:50
So next year we will have a high nose, no that might go over the top of another car, so stick to a low nose and submarine ? No the obvious answer is a high and a low nose, we could then have “the biplane nose” Seb V can be “The Red Baron”.
Jason Miller (@flatdarkmars)
11th October 2015, 4:02
Ah, but the Red Baron was best known for flying a TRIplane, so now logically we need a three-tiered nose. ;)
PaulK (@paulk)
11th October 2015, 6:49
Two wings in the front, one in the back :)
Dave (@)
11th October 2015, 6:08
Or split the difference :)
ColdFly F1 (@)
11th October 2015, 10:52
Why not simply add some solid bumpers?
At the same time we can close the cockpit, add some doors for driver extraction, and of course cover the wheels!
beneboy (@beneboy)
11th October 2015, 11:50
@coldfly maybe something like this:
http://www.tutorials3d.com/blueprints/jaguarxjr14silkcut.jpg
George (@george)
11th October 2015, 1:55
So if we’ve decided it doesn’t really make any difference what height the nose is since each option creates it’s own issues, why not just open up the rules?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
11th October 2015, 2:06
I guess because with safety issues, 1 strong decision is better than an open to interpretation rule.
If the Tec-Pros work fine, low noses shouldn’t be a problem.
Every single bit of engineering has it pros and cons, but open up the rules to the teams to decide on safety it’s ridiculous IMO
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
11th October 2015, 7:16
Ben Hunt. Sochi is a beautiful place, many journos have made an 180º on their comments regarding sochi. If you are going to hate, I’ll switch places with you.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
11th October 2015, 14:18
@peartree It’s only 5 miles to Abkhazia from the track, I wonder if you can see it from there..
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
12th October 2015, 3:04
@fastiesty Sochi is 90 miles long, the longest european city!
John H (@john-h)
11th October 2015, 7:27
Lots of criticism of the barriers but at the end of the day, they’ve save Sainz’s life even if the front row flew up, which is maybe an installation issue (not sure).
He might even race after a head on crash at over 100mph. You could even say it was worse than the Burti incident the angle he went in there.
mantresx (@mantresx)
11th October 2015, 7:50
@john-h You know what I think you’re right, at the end of the day Sainz is fine with no injuries. By the way it seems no one has realised that the front of the car was actually lower than normal because the wheels and nose got damaged when he first hit the wall, so he was literally scraping the floor with the front wing.
I reckon only a ridiculously high nose like the 2011 ones wouldn’t have given the same result in this particular case.
anon
11th October 2015, 8:48
@mantresx, and the problem with going to the nose height of the 2011 cars is that, if one car were to strike another side on, the nose tip would pass over the cockpit side protection measures and potentially strike the driver in the cockpit on the head (which was the reason why the FIA legislated against that type of nosecone).
BasCB (@bascb)
11th October 2015, 9:05
I do agree that they should have a look at installation to make sure they don’t get pushed up like that, but the barriers did indeed work well to make sure the driver was not injured in the impact @mantresx, @john-h
Philip (@philipgb)
11th October 2015, 8:14
So Gary Anderson says he always knew this would happen? Does he have documented evidence of raising this concern or is he just spouting 20/20 hindsight?
Every car design has its safety problems because barrelling round at 200mph is dangerous.
I think the car going under the barrier was more to do with losing the wheel which put the wing down to the ground.
I’m no engineer, but wouldn’t giving the barrier a lip stop that? Make it L shaped so the car has its weight on the barrier before it hits so it can’t be raised?
BasCB (@bascb)
11th October 2015, 9:10
yeah, he has been very critical of lower noses (like Newey has been) from the onset @philipgb
Philip (@philipgb)
11th October 2015, 10:22
I know he and others have about the cars flipping other cars like Maldonado did last year, but he’s saying it was obvious this could happen with the barrier. I don’t recall seeing any articles or quotes on barrier safety because of low noses.
I think fixing the barriers to have an L lip preventing to wing getting under them is the solution to this problem. Low vs high nose risk is a different debate.
PeterG
11th October 2015, 11:08
The nose had nothing to do with that because the nose never made contact with Guttierez’s car, It was purely wheel to wheel contact.
Unicron (@unicron2002)
11th October 2015, 8:35
I wonder what would have happened to Sainz’ car if it had hit a deep tyre barrier with conveyor belt? Would it have been like Mark Webber in Valencia 2010 where he hit the tyres head first (ok he had a much higher nose then) and was bounced back out, or would Sainz still have submarined under like Burti in Spa 2001? I’m pretty sure there was no belt on the tyres with Burti though so maybe that is key.
tom
11th October 2015, 8:38
Glad sainz is ok and only suffered a massive swollen hand!
BasCB (@bascb)
11th October 2015, 9:12
As for the weekend format, where did this suddenly come from? Why does F1 keep wanting to change things just to make some changes while constantly refraining from acting on what really needs solving (distribution of money and cost).
No, I do not think it would be fun if every weekend was arranged different. And no, it would not help to keep fans tune in when they won’t know what to expect when. Shortening the weekend will just give the fans less bang for their Buck.
Dave (@)
11th October 2015, 10:46
You’re passing judgement on decisions that haven’t been made yet
matt90 (@matt90)
11th October 2015, 11:30
Isn’t that just how you assess the options?
BasCB (@bascb)
11th October 2015, 13:54
Not really @raceprouk.
Whatever change in weekend format is clearly not going to solve the issues I mentioned at all. Throwing in new gimmicks or even going for different gimmicks or whatever does nothing to make the racing more exciting either. And nothing in the proposals for 2017 to make the cars faster is doing anything to help get cost down, so I think that its very safe to say non of the proposals solves the issues F1 is really facing currently.
tyresmoke (@tyresmoke)
11th October 2015, 11:35
Got to love the Telegrah:
Not even ashamed, this is like stereotype inception, a stereotype within stereotyping!
Revenger210
11th October 2015, 14:14
*cue the Inception horn*
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
11th October 2015, 14:22
@tyresmoke “All the same, these right wing newspapers with their stereotypes. So stereotypical!”
tyresmoke (@tyresmoke)
11th October 2015, 14:24
Stereo-ception! Hehe, I guess I was painting the Telegraph with a ‘typical’ brush.