McLaren Honda have confirmed in a statement today that their driver Fernando Alonso has left the hospital but will not be driving at the final pre-season test at Barcelona, set to start tomorrow.
The side gust theory is not that the car was forced sideways sliding on its tires (at least I hope not, otherwise there may be a need for an acceptance test here in the forum!), but the wind influencing the steering of the car, just like you experience in a normal car and strong side winds. The driver doesn't know how long the gust will hold, but he needs to correct the steering for this additional force, and therefore will "swerve" a bit when it starts and when it stops, and at one of these points Alonso made his "mistake".Tim.Wright wrote:Sorry for the pun but lets blow this "side gust" theory out the window with some numbers.
Assuming a side view Cd.A of 2 x 3 and a side wind gust of 50m/h that imparts a request of about 700N of lateral force on the tyres. Assuming a grip coefficient of 1.6 for the tyres and a mass of 700kg then the tyres are capable of producing about 11kN of force WITHOUT DOWNFORCE meaning the wind gust will soak up only a maximum of 6% of the capability of the tyres.
Like I said, this could be a problem if you were on the limit, i.e. already using 95% of the tyre's available grip but if you are under the limit its impossible that it can cause anything other than a slight change of trim.
This talk of an overdose of downforce is complete crap too. Again, if he wasn't on the limit then adding extra downforce will not cause the car to fall of the track regardless of the balance. It will only reduce the slip angle of the tyres due to the momentary increase of grip.
My experience of driving a lightweight sports racer in windy conditions through a corner that is not grip-limited is that the wind can indeed blow you off course. Your mathematical calculations start with the word "Assuming", so I would suggest those assumptions are not true for my sports racer and might not be true for an F1 car either.Tim.Wright wrote:Sorry for the pun but lets blow this "side gust" theory out the window with some numbers.
Assuming a side view Cd.A of 2 x 3 and a side wind gust of 50m/h that imparts a request of about 700N of lateral force on the tyres. Assuming a grip coefficient of 1.6 for the tyres and a mass of 700kg then the tyres are capable of producing about 11kN of force WITHOUT DOWNFORCE meaning the wind gust will soak up only a maximum of 6% of the capability of the tyres.
Like I said, this could be a problem if you were on the limit, i.e. already using 95% of the tyre's available grip but if you are under the limit its impossible that it can cause anything other than a slight change of trim.
This talk of an overdose of downforce is complete crap too. Again, if he wasn't on the limit then adding extra downforce will not cause the car to fall of the track regardless of the balance. It will only reduce the slip angle of the tyres due to the momentary increase of grip.
The only BBC article I can see refers to Hartstein saying that Alonso's extended stay in hospital indicates that it's not a straightforward concussion. That does not in anyway support conspiracies & claims of cover ups about electrocution, epilepsy, etc...JimClarkFan wrote:Not just conspiracy theorists saying the crash story doesn't make sense. BBC are running an article on it now
True. We see a lot of athletes in the NFL who suffer from a concussion after a big hit. Some of them even remained sidelined for 2 weeks.Richard wrote:Obviously Alonso is still showing signs of concussion. That happens sometimes, let's hope he makes a ful recovery in his own time, as opposed to the demands of a frantic media.
Not sure if you read the whole article. But it is clear that he is questioning mclarens version of events and is even poking fun at it...Richard wrote:Obviously Alonso is still showing signs of concussion. That happens sometimes, let's hope he makes a full recovery in his own time, as opposed to the demands of a frantic media.
The only BBC article I can see refers to Hartstein saying that Alonso's extended stay in hospital indicates that it's not a straightforward concussion. That does not in anyway support conspiracies & claims of cover ups about electrocution, epilepsy, etc...JimClarkFan wrote:Not just conspiracy theorists saying the crash story doesn't make sense. BBC are running an article on it now
Hartstein is simply saying that we don't know Alonso's full medical notes. You know, I'm content with that. I don't see why we all have some perverse right to know every detail of every test.
We had an update yesterday, it'd be nice to get one today but I'd understand if we had to wait a few more days because the treatment is to simply wait and see.
I can´t remind so many accidents where the colision was beyond 150km/h, but anycase each accident has its own consequences. It´s not the same crashing with a barrier than crashing with a wall, it´s not the same crashing with a wall at 90 degree angle than crashing with a 20 degree angle, it´s not the same if the crash structures make his job or if the impact is transmitted to the cockpit via suspension arms, and it´s not the same a frontal impact than a lateral onesantos wrote:Yes, that it's true. But i don't think that for a F1 car, a 50kmh crash would be a disaster. 150kmh is a slow speed when you compare with other accidents.Andres125sx wrote:It´s funny to read how some people think crashing with a concrete wall at 150kmh is a slow speed crash
With a concrete wall even a third of that, a 50kmh crash, can be a disaster. Obviously the angle of the impact play a huge role, but even with a low angle a concrete wall always causes very high decelerations, and concussions are caused by decelerations, so I don´t see how Alonso´s unconsciusness can be considered odd. Same for staying 48h in hospital, that´s standard
It´s the lack of info provided by Alonso or the team what make me nervous...
somewhere I read that FIA said that they are not responsible and that they don't care what happens during testing on the circuit... hard to believe.iotar__ wrote:Silence from FIA iz puzzling, although not every crazy theory or internet noise deserves response it would be in the interest of people running the sport to clear the situation. Testing or not, accident was serious enough to warrant some reaction, instead we have usual head in the sand approach.
