Video of Bianchi crash

[PaulT]

Lucky to still be here:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b17_1412605388

[ED]

+1

I watched this yesterday and it was truly shocking. Amazing he wasn't decapitated at that speed / angle.

Very lucky lad...

Hope he recovers fully from his injuries.

[Pickles]

Unlucky to have skidded off the track in the first place. Not very long ago that incident would have resulted in instant death. Still, VERY lucky to have survived - although the reports that have come out are indicative of a significant head injury, with all the difficulties that that entails.

[JSKS]

It would appear that the nature of the injury (diffuse axonal injury) implies significant tissue damage. I hate to say this but the prognosis must be less than favourable. Sadly, few recover from this sort of injury.

[PaulT]

Now, if one car has slid off at that point why would not another? So why recover the first car before the race is finished? Less harm would have been done if he had crashed in to another F1 car.

[Pierre ZFP]

I notice that in the tower just above the recovery vehicle the Marshals are waving GREEN flags.

Surely with such an incident there should be Yellow flags if not the safety car?

[Chancer]

Money rules where safety is concerned, a vehicle would never be recovered during a race at any other level of motorsport.

Détails regarding the flag zones and the cock up here: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/yes-a-green-flag-was-waving-but-know-the-whole-story

Its not clear from the diagram or the video but am I right in my assumption that the vehicles were taking the bend in an anti-clockwise direction?

It takes a huge amount of force to lift up a Manitou like that, I am really surprised that he has survived, I keep my fingers crossed for him.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Pierre ZFP"]

I notice that in the tower just above the recovery vehicle the Marshals are waving GREEN flags.

Surely with such an incident there should be Yellow flags if not the safety car?

[/quote]

The green flag is to indicate that the following section is clear.

[nomoss]

[quote user="Chancer"]

Its not clear from the diagram or the video but am I right in my assumption that the vehicles were taking the bend in an anti-clockwise direction?

Yes. If you look at the circuit on Google Earth there is Streetview available on the actual track. You can find the location (the tower is marked "12") about halfway round the curve on the RHS from a driver's viewpoint.

It takes a huge amount of force to lift up a Manitou like that, I am really surprised that he has survived, I keep my fingers crossed for him.

[/quote]

[Théière]

In slow mo that was flinchingly bad.  That was a big manitou as you said Chancer a huge amount of force. Terrifying.  Fingers crossed indeed

[Pierre ZFP]

It was also lucky that he didn't plough into the guys that were removing the other car, could easily have hit 4 or 5 of them.  Maybe Bianchi deliberately managed to avoid them at the expense of a worse crash for himself, hard to say at that speed and those conditions.

I accept that the Marshal waving the green flag was just past the incident and therefore the drivers were in the clear at that point but I can also ímagine a driver coming around that bend, seeing a green flag and gunning it albeit a bit early.  Should have been yellow flags but as always, easy to say after the event.