The Official 2016 Australian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS with quali rules FIAscos***

Brundle's accident was at much lower speed. It looked worse because the car split in two (which in itself could have been dangerous as it remained connected) but the actual crash had no where near the violence or energy of Alonso's crash.

Alonso's crash looks better than it did as the turn 3 cameraman tracked it perfectly and in super slow motion it looked like a fun ride, but at full speed it's scary.

Villeneuve's crash of course is worse than either as he lost all four wheels and had little in the way of friction to even slow the car once it landed and slid along the wall before digging in much the same way as Alonso did.

I'm struggling to think of an accident I've seen in F1 where a driver was injured after the car rolled. Diniz in the Sauber in 1999 comes to mind but that was a failed rollover hoop, IIRC. Was it 2000 when Pedro DLR cartwheeled into the gravel during that pileup at Monza? Similar forces going on there I reckon.

With both Alonso and Kubica the real dangerous part of the crash was the initial impact with the wall, the rolls and acrobatics after that look horrendous but have rarely resulted in any injury. Correct me if I'm wrong.

In thought Alonso's crash was more reminiscent of Webber in Valencia or Verstappen in Monaco last year, although I'm thinking about the cause rather than the outcome.

It was still a scary moment. It took me a little while to twig that Gutierez had been in a collision when the feed first cut to him and then the wreckage caught my eye and I just thought 'ahhhhh @#$%&, who ever is in there ain't getting out alive'.

The fact that Alonso crawled out unaided with just a few bruises is simply amazing and shows just how strong these cars are not to mention how effective the ever increasingly stringent crash testing is.

But the way the gravel flipped the car and launched it was truly terrifying. I think I at last see the sense behind these car parkesque tarmac run off areas now.

Incidently... in the Villeneuve accident, didn't a marshal get killed by debris or a wheel? Hopefully there were no injuries this time round.

It was an interesting race which had enough intrigue to keep you guessing. Ferrari definitely made a fight of it although this was largely helped by their preference for the super soft tyre and Mercedes' tardy starts. The Red flag was possibly the factor which took it back of out of Vettel's grasp.

A good result for Rosberg. I think the luck bounced his way here as at no point did he look to be the fastest at any point in the weekend. But a decent performance when you consider that he had to manage his brakes for most of the race due to debris being caught in a duct. Plus.. he got one over on Hamilton and made it stick. It's usually the other way round when it comes to being elbowed out of the way at turn one.

I imagine Hamilton will have gone home scratching his head, how on earth did he lose that? Further more Rosberg has now won four races in a row... how many other non champions have managed that?

The Red Bull looks like a tidy package, as you'd expect. I think they need to qualify better though.

Toro Rosso. Wow. Definitely a neat little car. I knew there was a chance of it being a dark horse but I didn't expect it to be knocking on the door of the best of the rest. Good job. Max needs to do some growing up though. Why should Sainz let him through? You know if the roles were reversed then he'd have definitely refused to move over as he has proved in the past.

Williams. What a dissapointment. Where was the pace?

Hass... Helped by their own red flag :P but what an awesome result. First genuine start up team to score points on their debut since Toyota and on a much smaller budget proportionally too! What was telling for me is that Grosjean wasn't even holding Hulkenberg up. He never once got close enough to try a move. Nice for a Dallara chassis to finally get a positive result in F1 too

An honourable mention to Palmer as well. It was always going to be an uphill struggle to get points but I don't think anyone genuinely thought he'd out qualify and finish ahead of Magussen at first attempt. A good effort.

Yeah I was pretty impressed by Renault. Tidy performance.

Disappointments were Williams and Sauber.

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I'm struggling to think of an accident I've seen in F1 where a driver was injured after the car rolled. Diniz in the Sauber in 1999 comes to mind but that was a failed rollover hoop, IIRC. Was it 2000 when Pedro DLR cartwheeled into the gravel during that pileup at Monza? Similar forces going on there I reckon.

I don't think Diniz was injured at all in the 1999 crash (he was mighty lucky). Patrese limped away from his Williams in 1992, but I guess that was just bruises, the same as Alonso. I can't think of any car in 80s races flipping other than Villeneuve. There were a few in the 70s - Williamson (killed by the ensuing fire), Stommelen (injured, but spectators were killed) and Villeneuve (I think he was OK but again spectators were killed). Villeneuve himself was killed from a roll, perhaps by the barrier, but I've seen people saying they thought he was dead from a broken neck from the series of rolls before he was hurtled into the catch fencing.

There will numerous injuries and deaths in the 60s and 50s from F1 cars overturning as they chose not to wear seatbelts, feeling it was better to be thrown clear of the car than to be stuck underneath it by the inevitable fire (not that that helped poor Bandidi or Schlesser).

I saw a Formula 3000 car crash in the 90s at the hairpin at Magny Cours where a driver's head struck a concrete wall as his car was inverted (somebody Carlos I think it was). Patrick Depailler was killed in testing at Hockenheim when his car turned over and ran along the barrier. Philippe Streiff was paralysed in a similar way as Diniz nearly was, as the rollover hoop failed on his car too. Edit: Michele Alboreto I guess too.

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Incidently... in the Villeneuve accident, didn't a marshal get killed by debris or a wheel? Hopefully there were no injuries this time round.

Yes, a marshall was killed by Villeneuve's right-rear, which tragically was at exactly the right (well wrong) height to get ripped off by the hole in the fence for marshals, and the poor guy wouldn't have stood a change.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2016 04:12PM by gav.

Marco Campos. Freak accident, unfortunate angle, a bit leg Greg Moore but not as destructive. Wasn't Depailler decapitated by the guard rail?


Older racers aside where the cars were deathtraps anyway, other than bruising I can't think of a single injury sustained in a rolled-over car in F1 since 1990, but I can find lots of examples of them walking away.


Unless you're REALLY unlucky, rolling into a gravel trap at any speed appears far safer than skittering across tarmac and hitting something much, much harder. So, arguments for and against the gravel traps.


One of the most frightening accidents I saw in terms of speed and dissipated energy was Michael Andretti at Mid-Ohio. Not a scratch on him.

[www.youtube.com]


I'm just countering arguments that barrel rolls into gravel, or barrel rolls in general, are what make accidents dangerous. Most evidence would suggest that that is not the case. And I don't think Mosley was correct when he said Alonso would have ded 15 years ago, and I don't think Alonso is lucky to be alive, either. Rather I would consider it extremely unlucky had he been killed, because as I said, once that car started rolling, there was nothing for him to hurt himself on.

Alonso could have his head smashed against the barriers if something like a roll hoop failed! being hit by a wheel etc etc there are lots of examples. he was lucky indeed .

I agree with mosley, a crash at that speed with the safety 15 years ago cars had, maybe wouldnt be enough (remember Burti in Spa 2001, not a barrell roll but a high speed crash indeed) to save him of being injured. its not only that he´s not dead, he walked away with only bruises. And if you want to go further back in time and comparing, Pironi´s crash in Hockenheim 82 ended his career, for not to quote fatal crashes.

And its not the barrell roll itself only. Elio de Angelis died because the fumes he breathed when he wasnt rescued from that upside down Brabham (Altough it was a private test, in the 80s) and the only thing he had was a broken collar bone. Imagine what could happen to Alonso if from the crash his car catches fire (its a low possibility one but happened to Webber in Korea 2013 I think).

As low as risk possibility thank god is now, there is still a chance anything could go wrong.

We're adding up these possibilities though. It's very unlikely that the fuel cell will rupture nowadays, it's mathematically impossible for the head to strike the ground thanks to the shape of the cockpit sides, tyres usually fly away from the car (unless they swing back on tethers), safety crews are immediately on the scene, etc etc etc.

For sure it was a spectacular accident but I still wouldn't say he's "lucky to be alive". Anyway, none of this matters I guess I just like the discussion

What injuries did Burti sustain? It was poorly reported here in UK.

well then he is lucky to have this accident now and not in 1985

Burti sustained head injuries, as far i remember concentration problems, seizures for some time after the crash I think. had to sit out for the rest of the season and never raced in F1 again. There are some pics of the helmet he wore that day that are a little shocking





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2016 10:14PM by Frantic.

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