Massa crashes after being hit by heave spring

[ISLAMATRON]

the explosion in an exploding bolt can easily be self contained, it wouldnt even have to blow off the canopy like in a jet, but merely release the canopy.

[ISLAMATRON]

--- it get worse, skull damage & surgery

http://www.f1technical.net/news/12946

[Giblet]

That can be the kind of a head injury that can make someone from ever being 100% again.

It's such a strange tragic coincidence that he was one of the drivers most visibly upset about Surtees, and mentioned in the media ahead other drivers.

Also, the bones around the eyes are weak at best, and hopefully it's just bone repair surgery and a big scar. I think Felipe has matured into a very strong driver, and would love to see him and his passion back.

[Giblet]

So only Kimi races for Ferrari, as you still need to qualify, or at least do a practice lap to be in the race.

[jon-mullen]

That can be the kind of a head injury that can make someone from ever being 100% again.

You're absolutely right. It's great to see that he's alive and concious but there's still plenty of wishing/hoping/praying to do for him.

It's such a strange tragic coincidence that he was one of the drivers most visibly upset about Surtees, and mentioned in the media ahead other drivers.

In the back of my mind I thought Massa was upset because Surtees' getting hit in the head with a tire bears some resemblance to F1's last driver fatality. "Tragic coincidence" and "freak accident" are definitely the words here.

[TheMinister]

Most of the really dangerous incidents we see these days seem to be coming from the open cockpit- Surtees, Massa, DC crashing in Australia a few years back etc...

We already have the concession of the raised cockpit sides to this problem, surely a canopy can be the only way to go from here?

Whilst it could prevent marshals from getting a driver out of the car quickly, when was the last time that actually needed to be done? (and I mean really, really quickly...) Of course we see cars set on fire fairly regularly, but those fires always take place towards the rear of the car, so why not have a fireproof canopy- ie the car can burn indefinitely but the driver is safe. Tricky, but I reckon it could be done.

The canopy could be made so perhaps it was one really strong roll bar (to protect driver from other cars) and the rest a bit weaker, so it would shatter in an impact like todays, dissipating some energy and deflecting any objects. It could also have quite an aerodynamic advantage, getting rid of the imperfections in the airflow the cockpit and driver cause.

Not that this idea doesn't have it's problems, but the FIA should certainly take a good look at it to see if there is any practical merit.

Aside from that, good luck to felipe, hope it's not season or career ending. It'd be a real shame if he was never able to show the pace he had last season again.

[yzfr7]

I was just imagining Kimi's KERS incident in the case of a closed canopy, it would <look> scary.

As it wouldn't have to be sealed as in a jet fighter, wouldn't any sort of fast realease be enough? I mean, like the current raised cockpit protection that usually the drivers release before stepping out of the car. It could be reached from inside and outside, in case of unconscious driver.

[DaveKillens]

I am deeply distressed, and concerned about Massa. A head injury is something I take very seriously.
I hope everyone offers a silent prayer for his well-being and swift recovery.

[andartop]

Poor lad.. hope he gets well soon, and I think he will. Just a few points:

a) The injuries apparent on his face are really not that bad. A black eye and superficial cuts are all one can see on that pic. If you looked at pictures of people involved in serious accidents or attempted suicides you would get an idea of how "bad facial injuries" look like. Still, modern reconstructive surgery can do miracles.

b) The damage on his helmet is a good indication of how fast that damn thing hit him, but the more damage visible on the helmet is also a good thing, as it means less of the energy of the impact actually made it to his skull. Which brings us to..

c) The bones around the eyes are not weak at all. Given their dimensions, they are actually specifically "designed" to absorb the maximum amount of impact energy in order to prevent it from reaching the eyes and the brain. At the same time, they are specifically "designed" to fracture under extreme loads in such a way as to provide the maximum possible protection to the brain, ie several bones are likely to collapse instead of just one, thus the energy of the impact is distributed across a wider area. For some more info, here's a quick link:
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/824743-overview

The bottom line is, for a given amount of impact force, the more damage caused to the helmet and facial structure the better the prognosis, as facial injuries are hardly ever life threatening compared to brain or spinal cord injuries..

[The FOZ]

Terrible twist of fate, especially this soon after the Surtees tragedy.

I wonder...in the case of something like a heave spring, in which a non-catastrophic failure can cause it to freely detach from the car, why wouldn't there be some sort of restraint system preventing it from doing so?

I know that bits of carbon come off the cars all the time, and there's precious little that can be done about that, but stuff like a spring...seems like a silly thing that can be avoided in future.

My hope is this, paired with last weekend's F2 tragedy, doesn't push the powers that be into a knee-jerk reaction that fundamentally alters the face of the sport. Now is a time for critical thinking and reflection, not mad scrambles to cover F1 cars in bubble-wrap.

[fenix4life]

It would be rather diffcult.
It's not only a spring that might go loose. I can't imagine every piece attached with a string to another element.

Maybe some kind of grills should be introduced so that large element that are loose can not be ejected of the vehicle.
But on the other hand. It's impossible to have a zero risk auto sport. Some huge progress has been made. Even though the wheel are attached on F1. They some do get loose.

[jonathan189]

It looks like he's lucky to be alive. Let's all hope the surgery goes well.

It's really terrible that things like this still happen in F1 -- there is still room for better safety.

[jason.parker.86]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqF2-alDFfE

That video says it all! He was clearly hit, knocked asleep and the rest we all know!

Freak accident!

[bhall]

I lost the whole central damper of the car. The car this morning had a lot of fuel and it felt quite good. This afternoon it felt a bit strange, vertically the car was moving a bit. And we suspected since the beginning of qualifying that it was starting to go. Eventually it went completely on that lap, because I had a lap of traffic which I had to abort and that lap, as soon as I braked for Turn 1, it was very, very bad. I still did an okay time through sector one, but when I went into Turn 3 I felt the rear collapse.

It's unconscionable that Brawn would send Barrichello out in a car whose suspension was known to be suspect. You simply cannot take that kind of risk in a Formula 1 car, or any race car for that matter, especially in light of the Surtees accident. It's just wrong.

[ISLAMATRON]

Surgery successful, spring was about 800 grams

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77288