Alonso's Crash

[hollus]

The direction could be expected to be mostly lateral. Inferred in any case.

[nacho]

I wonder if they have onboard footage

[Vettel Maggot]

I wonder if they have onboard footage

Yes, it is in the same locked cupboard as the Senna 1994 Imola onboard.

There is something quite strange about this crash, maybe that has been triggered by McLaren's usual vague press releases. They just fuel the fire.

[Moose]

I don't understand why everyone thinks the crash is unusual. All the stated facts line up. He ran a bit wide, he got a gust of wind from behind, became light on downforce, oversteered on the exit as he applied the power, and didn't correct in time to not end up in the wall.

The wall didn't have anything protecting him, so the impact for his body was pretty severe, and he got a concussion.

Seriously, what doesn't make sense about that (stated by both McLaren and Alonso, and backed up by Vettel's comments) story?

[SectorOne]

Seriously, what doesn't make sense about that (stated by both McLaren and Alonso, and backed up by Vettel's comments) story?

Him backing off from 200 clicks to 135 in a corner designed for well over that, flicking down two gears then decided to turn right straight into a wall making no efforts to stay on track.

It´s obvious he´s trying to park the car as fast as he can for whatever reason.

Vettel´s original comment was made before anyone could tell him to say something else.

"The speed was slow - maybe 150kph. Then he turned right into the wall. It looked strange," the German said.

(speed was 135kph, and he did turn right into the wall)

"I was right behind but I didn't really see. I was a bit too late so I couldn't see how the accident started, I only saw the last bit where he hit the wall. But what happened before I don't know, I cannot judge."

Hmm. So you can see the car driving slow then suddenly turn right and now all of a sudden you can´t see how the accident started?

Ok then...

[SectorOne]

Now Andrew Benson has made an article on BBC, vastly different then Tobias twitter comments..
I'll remove my comments when i get home because this is ridiculous.

[Abarth]

[...], became light on downforce, [...]

McLaren said there was no loss of downforce....

[...] [...]Seriously, what doesn't make sense about that (stated by both McLaren and Alonso, and backed up by Vettel's comments) story?

That he downshifted, according to McLaren. (You didn't mention this, btw., so, in which phase of the accident did he downshift?)

[Thunder]

Andrew Benson's Article that was mentioned by SectorOne:(at least i hope it is that one)

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31732315

[SectorOne]

Yes thats the one, thank you. Cellphones and internet links is a pain in the butt.

[FrukostScones]

Andrew Benson's Article that was mentioned by SectorOne:(at least i hope it is that one)

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/31732315

a good article, but the author's deductions are not entirely to follow

[Kiril Varbanov]

In order to capture your mood regarding the incident I have created a poll: http://www.f1technical.net/poll/index.php?dispid=291

[Moanlower]

[...], became light on downforce, [...]

McLaren said there was no loss of downforce....

[...] [...]Seriously, what doesn't make sense about that (stated by both McLaren and Alonso, and backed up by Vettel's comments) story?

That he downshifted, according to McLaren. (You didn't mention this, btw., so, in which phase of the accident did he downshift?)

There might not be a loss of downforce, but running wide on the astroturf can give you a big loss of grip which could oversteer the car into the inside wall with possibly some help of a strong wind gust in such way that countersteering does not help right away or none at all to redirect the car and steering away from the wall. As a result to that the only other option he had was slowing down as much as possible, hence the hard braking and 2 downshifts in an unusual spot right before the impact.

I'm not saying that it happened this way for sure but surely could be a reasonable explanation. An F1 car or any other does not always respond to countersteering for several possible reasons.

[lebesset]

In order to capture your mood regarding the incident I have created a poll: http://www.f1technical.net/poll/index.php?dispid=291

confusion reigned !

[Giblet]

Just tossing my three cents into the ring.

People seem to be assuming the skid mark is from the front tire, I have seen nothing to say it wasn't the inside rear, but honestly have not looked with great detail at the event yet.

If the rear had locked up with some kind of issue with the brake by wire, or if Honda has some sort of active diff trickery going on, the locking of the inside rear would cause the car to move towards the wall.

Also a big if is that his corrections were making things worse due to a software issue or failure. Since so much braking force comes from the engine, it can overpower the amount of braking force actually coming from the much smaller rear brakes.

Honestly don't have the time to read the whole thread (and some very looney ideas) so if there is a reason this can't be a possibility via evidence already presented, show me the light.

[timbo]

There is a rumor that teams now press for McLaren and FIA for disclosure of info on the crash.
I wonder why McLaren would not release telemetry traces. This may be a coverup but OTOH McLaren may simply protect the info on their car performance.
How much do you think can other teams learn about car performance from that?
It does seem that McLaren is touchy on releasing their telemetry (remember Belgium 2012) while other teams sometime allow some info (Mercedes in Monaco few years ago, Ferrari in Hungary last year).