Be fair on the FIA. They've ruined a lot of things, but they have done much to enhance motorsport safety (partly due to pressure from prominent campaigners like J Y Stewart).
That is the craziest wall layout I've seen since the 1980s. Surely even Mexico can afford water barrels and plastic barriers? The track surface looked really rough and uneven too.
The wall isn't the issue here, it's avoidable contact after the finish. The car behind looked like it almost deliberately spun the car behind with the way it stuck its nose in and then pulled across the track. Whilst not great it just looks like the end of a pitwall, which are rarely protected with anything substancial enough to make a real difference. The wall moving due to being a makeshift block probably disapated a lot of energy. Ultimately though nothing will protect a driver from T-boning the end of the pitwall at that speed.
I say credits to the paramedics who responded and got to the accident faster than any other accident I have ever seen. It's sad that they couldn't save the guy, but impressive response time none-the-less. Fault the track all you like, but the guys on the ground where very good.
The FIA rightly have no power to close any circuits! If someone feels a track is too dangerous then don't race there. I know there are circuits I choose not to drive on. I don't need a governing body to tell me what's safe or not safe!
Not entirely true... Even in the best possible case a car would be thrown back onto the track which is also inacceptable...
I don't see why the walls have to be placed right on the edge of the track in the first place, you clearly see if there is a wreck there is no room to slow the car down before hitting something hard...
Although the reason they were able to do so is also the reason the guy died. I don't know why someone would actually race on a track like that. A few people are saying it was deliberate too, if it was I hope the other driver can live with the fact that he pretty much just murdered someone.
That wasn't after the end of the race by the looks of things, and it was also the back straight, that barrier looks to be where there is a gap in the barriers where the infield circuit joins the oval, on most ovals this gap would be sealed with a temporary barrier when the oval is in use.
Well actually, it is a temporary barrier by the looks of things, especially seeing as a lot of it was knocked out of place by the car, but it still has a gap in it which is bad, which allowed the car to hit the barrier end on instead of side on, very bad.
A similar layout of barrier was in place at Montreal back in 2008, when Kubica hit it head on and we all know what happened there, head on impacts are not as dangerous as they used to be, but as you can see side impacts are still pretty much deadly.
I think you're right, don't know where I got the impression it was after the finish.
Kubica's accident was more of a glancing blow than head on, a true head on collision into a concrete wall at those speeds would be unquestionably fatal in any current race car.
If you watch the video you will see the course car responded the moment of the accident without waiting for flags or such, the driver was clearly paying attention and just went for it the moment he saw what happened - the dust hadn't even settled, and he didn't wait for a caution - very fast decision making.
The driver died doing something he loved. If I am to die before getting altzeimers then i'd like it to be doing something I love too. Part of this sport I love is assisting other drivers to spin, not something i'm that partial too, but still it's a part of the parcel. I think if it's looked at any other way you get into a culture of blame, and for the other driver concerned i'm sure that's a moment that will haunt the rest of his life anyway without other people pointing the finger at him.
Guilt is a very difficult thing to live with and I actually feel for the other driver involved if this would affect him, as death is a part of motor racing.
I think the fault of this terrible crash is with the race organizers and not with the driver who forced him off. A racing car should never be able to t-bone a concrete barrier at such high speeds, it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
Wow, what planet do you live on? Is it nice there? The FIA, for all their faults, have done more than probably any other motorsport authority to improve driver safety, and they deserve a lot of credit for that.
