mario wrote:fjackdaw wrote:AndreaModa wrote:Whatever the aftermath of all this is, I suspect a lot will be made of the conditions being too poor for the helicopter to fly. No doubt we'll see a rule change to allow FIA to overrule all other parties when considering rescheduling a race. Should have been run earlier in the day.
With all that said, obviously hoping Bianchi is okay. The most important thing we can all take from this as ordinary spectators is to not get hysterical and not start a blame game. In those sort of situations, no-one is at fault. The truck needed to move the Sauber, and it's unfortunate that for Jules, he crashed right where it was. If it hadn't been the crane, he might have hit the Sauber, and possibly even Sutil if he hadn't got out in time.
That said, Martin Brundle has been wincing for *years* every time one of those trucks is on track - with so much specialist racing and safety equipment used in Formula 1, it's always alarming to see these huge pieces of construction equipment lumbering about on the circuit.
On the other hand, I am struggling to see how you could easily move a car that has crashed, and therefore cannot be easily wheeled away, without some sort of mobile crane.
Having a somewhat cumbersome mobile crane near the edge of the track is not an ideal situation, and it is true that in the past we have had a few close calls when marshals have been trying to remove a stricken car in damp conditions. However, I'm not sure what alternatives could easily be used to replace the mobile cranes - perhaps you could try to clad the outside of the crane with some sort of protective padding, but that could then compromise the safe working of the crane for the operators and the marshals around it, so I don't think there is an easy way out of that situation.
Yeah, this is the big problem here. The only possible solution I can think of is if there is some temporary safety structure which you can deploy around the crane. But I have no idea if that is feasible.
