Alonso's Crash

[Alonso Fan]

Hi guys, I'm new, cool forum! News in Spain suggest gusty winds blew the car into the wall and I think its the most probable. Firstly is the speed, 150km/h would not produce full downforce so the weight of the car is approx 700-800Kg. The corner is uphill so wind would also pass under the tray of the car. Gusts of wind on the car and over correction from the driver would kind of break traction sending him into the wall. The cars also have a lot vertical surfaces which would act as sails... It all adds up, even the 30G impact could be explained by the added lateral load on the car slamming it into the wall, causing a very concust Alonso. Alonso is a Mega-Celebrity in Spain and I'm sure all services are at his disposal and the Hospital is taking extra care or want to keep Alonso for another day
The only witness Vettel, when he says "it was strange" I think what he means is that the car seemed to be crabbing sideways, making it look weird?

yep, that's what i was thinking after they released the statement

[Mesteño]

Perfect. Perfect simulation




Maybe wind was what took him out of turn 3 and made him lose grip.

[radosav]

Maldonado had similar accident.

[Manoah2u]

Perfect. Perfect simulation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igIvPDDyRAA


Maybe wind was what took him out of turn 3 and made him lose grip.

that final camera view in the video i think gives a good view on how harsh the hit against the wall could have been.
interesting 'reconstruction'. looks pretty believable. the other shots imho don't really underline the force when the car hit the wall, the final camera view actually does.

[Alonso Fan]

I´ll say it, i f*cking love Taki Inoue.

https://twitter.com/takiinoue/status/569969844378075136

an absolute legend

not always



this was alonso's fault



this was alonso's fault for clipping the grass

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpi5o4 ... -2012_auto

that comment in the tweet is not always true, Alonso is human, he makes mistakes too. i'm not saying this testing incident was a driver error, none of the media really knows. people just like to make rumours. the only thing we know is what mclaren told us.

lets put this to bed now and wish Alonso and the mp4-30 a swift recovery.

#ForzaAlonso!

[Edax]

So seems like a unlucky gathering of unpleasent circumstances.

The tire mark isn't that weird either, it's not uncommon that just 1 wheel locks up under braking; it was an 'inside' wheel lockup, gravity affects F1 cars too thus turning to the right generates more load on the outer wheels compared to the inner wheels.

Yes but then the reverse argument is also true, that the other wheels should have had grip. With an inner wheel lockup only, you still have full directional control over the car as well as most of the braking ability avalable. Then the trajectory of the crash (curving inward) as well as the speed at impact are puzzling.

No matter which way you look at it is still a weird accident. And that is not because I don't believe that Alonso is some demigod who does not make mistakes. It is just that the location and the apparent trajectory of the crash are very unusual.

when you take the skidmark as reference you have to wonder i) how did he get there as it was far from the racing line, and ii) why did he continue like that. Logically one would expect him to either steer away from the wall or if the situation was irrecoverable to lock all brakes.

I'm sure that there is a logical explanation and I'm sure that it is not witheld purposely. And that does not include electrocution which in a carbon box seems next to impossible. But loss off spacial awareness, or accidentally hitting the throttle when slamming the brakes, could also be possible.

[timbo]

Perfect. Perfect simulation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igIvPDDyRAA


Maybe wind was what took him out of turn 3 and made him lose grip.

I don't think it agrees with the pic you posted earlier in the thread:


To me it looks like front wheel is turned to the right. Also, the position of the car relative to the braking marks suggests that it was turning at the moment of the crash and hit the wall at quite an angle, it probably straightened right after the impact.

[Redragon]

So seems like a unlucky gathering of unpleasent circumstances.

The tire mark isn't that weird either, it's not uncommon that just 1 wheel locks up under braking; it was an 'inside' wheel lockup, gravity affects F1 cars too thus turning to the right generates more load on the outer wheels compared to the inner wheels.

Yes but then the reverse argument is also true, that the other wheels should have had grip. With an inner wheel lockup only, you still have full directional control over the car as well as most of the braking ability avalable. Then the trajectory of the crash (curving inward) as well as the speed at impact are puzzling.

No matter which way you look at it is still a weird accident. And that is not because I don't believe that Alonso is some demigod who does not make mistakes. It is just that the location and the apparent trajectory of the crash are very unusual.

when you take the skidmark as reference you have to wonder i) how did he get there as it was far from the racing line, and ii) why did he continue like that. Logically one would expect him to either steer away from the wall or if the situation was irrecoverable to lock all brakes.

I'm sure that there is a logical explanation and I'm sure that it is not witheld purposely. And that does not include electrocution which in a carbon box seems next to impossible. But loss off spacial awareness, or accidentally hitting the throttle when slamming the brakes, could also be possible.

After seeing the simulation, it remind me Raikonen accident last year on tests where he had pretty strange accident,



Maybe Mclaren where having the engine with a bit more power, having more torque which adding the wind + fake grass the car just went straight to the wall

[bill shoe]

Maldonado had similar accident.

goes without saying

[dan]

looking at the maldonado wreck and the simulation i find it hard to believe it didn't happen the way mclaren said
150kmph is still what 100mph? I hit a concrete wall at about 45mph and knocked myself out on the roof of a car with a helmet on, just because you have a helmet doesn't mean it doesn't hurt

Its strange the cars are that safe people think you can't get hurt 150kmph is very fast to hit a immobile object like a concrete wall - accidents don't always happen in the scenarios the cars are designed to crumple and protect

[Hobbs04]

Regarding the single skid mark and suspension failure couple things to note:

Most auto crashes have a dominant skid mark as the vehicle is loaded up on its suspension. Turn 4 is a right hander and Alonso rotated in a clockwise manner. In order to oversteer that direction most likely scenario would be him going wide onto the AstroTurf strip and losing traction on his outside wheels.

Suspension or ERS failure (like we saw with Massa in 2013) I doubt occurred. I think the crash itself is pretty straight forward where a failure would see the vehicle swap ends violently.

Sorry this post is not diving into all the conspiracies into Alonso, but can't we just be patient for him to tell his story.

[SectorOne]

I´ll say it, i f*cking love Taki Inoue.

https://twitter.com/takiinoue/status/569969844378075136

an absolute legend

not always

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJaZ9I-556w

this was alonso's fault

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFAgBuN45x4

this was alonso's fault for clipping the grass

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpi5o4 ... -2012_auto

that comment in the tweet is not always true, Alonso is human, he makes mistakes too. i'm not saying this testing incident was a driver error, none of the media really knows. people just like to make rumours. the only thing we know is what mclaren told us.

lets put this to bed now and wish Alonso and the mp4-30 a swift recovery.

#ForzaAlonso!

I like how you completely miss the fact that Taki is simply joking.

[thermodynamics]

I happened to be driving my motorcycle on the highway, on that same day a few km away from Montmelo.
Some wind gushes were so extreme that they literally pushed me sideways out of my track.
I have no problem to think that in absence of any mechanical failure or pilot brainfart, the cause of the accident could have been due to one of these gusts altering the car's downforce.

[Vasconia]

According to the news Alonso will remain hospitalized at least one or two days more. He could leave it today but he could do it in two or three days as well.

So its clear that his condition is not that good, something is still wrong or at least doctors have some doubts. I hope he can drive in the last test.

[i70q7m7ghw]

So seems like a unlucky gathering of unpleasent circumstances.

The tire mark isn't that weird either, it's not uncommon that just 1 wheel locks up under braking; it was an 'inside' wheel lockup, gravity affects F1 cars too thus turning to the right generates more load on the outer wheels compared to the inner wheels.

Gravity? Do you want to rethink that?

Yes but then the reverse argument is also true, that the other wheels should have had grip. With an inner wheel lockup only, you still have full directional control over the car as well as most of the braking ability avalable. Then the trajectory of the crash (curving inward) as well as the speed at impact are puzzling.

No not true at all. Once you loose grip on one tyre, the second, third and forth can very quickly follow as they take on more load which quickly becomes too much. Thinking that a driver can have "full directional control over the car as well as most of the braking ability" when the wheels are locked is very puzzling indeed.

All of the drivers have been complained about the cold temperatures and the harder tyres this year. Most likely the tyres were outside of their operating temperature. When he touched the astro turf it pitched the car towards the wall and broke traction on all four wheels, at which point he's going straight to the scene of the accident.