Maria de Villotta injured in testing

[stefan_]

With all the respect for Maria, it is sad to see this kind of incident and I hope she gets well as soon as possible, but it seems to me that it is the driver error that caused this accident. Formula 1 cars don't just accelerate when they feel to and crash into lorries.

I hope (although smoke is starting to be seen) that this isn't going to bring into discussion the closed cockpit thing or some SF-ish safety devices. For me, this will be the biggest mistake in history. I am in the group of people (if it exists) who think that accidents are part of this sport, danger is a part of this sport and the drivers know that they could even die when they put their name on the contract. They do it because they like speed, they like racing, they like competing and winning - they know where their are getting into. Who comes into Formula 1 thinking "Oh my god, I could die, it so dangerous, it will be better to put myself in a 100% bubble" could go away where they came from. The current safety regulations are very good and well defined (nobody died after Roland and Ayrton, that says a lot). If, hypothetically, a life is lost in this times, I think it would be more because a certain cumulation of factors rather than a lack of safety regulations.

[Hail22]

I don't want to see closed cockpits...F1 is losing its "pinnacle of motorsport" tag slowly but surely to Le mans.

I think this is a freak accident, and i agree with the above post...a Formula 1 car doesn't just simply have a "jammed" accelerator cable/peddle etc...Seems to me driver error.

Anyways what matters is that she makes a recovery...I hope no debate starts about closed cockpits, reduced speed etc etc occurs, but I fear that has already started in the F1 world...

[piast9]

Pedal misapplication.

How can you be so sure? Have you been there? Have you heard the engine sound at the moment of the crash posted several posts above? I think that if pedals were misapplied then the engine would rev up but it didn't. Maybe she has little experience with F1 but she was racing for many years at other series.

I have no idea how this could happen. Maybe she just went close to the back of the lorry but didn't noticed the lift? She was sitting low, exactly at the level of that lift so it was visible as a thin horizontal thing just at the level of horizon.

[myurr]

This would have been avoided if there had been a canopy. Wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area

This would have been avoided if the car didn't use it's engine at all in the pit lane and instead was pushed by two mechanics down the pit lane. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

This would have been avoided if grown men didn't feel the need to race stupidly fast cars around circuits at unsafe speeds. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

This would have been avoided had helicopters been used to transport everything with low loading ramps been used instead of unsafe lorries with their high tail gates. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

An so on. You cannot base your decisions on freak accidents like this. In F1 at least, for every freak accident in the last 20 years where a canopy would have helped there have been several times that cars have ended up upside down where a canopy would have hindered efforts to help the driver out. Look at Anthony Davidson's huge crash at Le Mans. He had a canopy, he was trapped upside down with a broken spine, and they had to role his car back the right way up to get him out of the car risking further injury to his back.

Unfortunately there are no easy answers or quick solutions and that's before we even talk about the spectacle and the need for many fans to be able to see the drivers in order to related to them. With a canopy then for many people (not all) there is an emotional disconnect - it's fundamentally hard wired into us.

[thearmofbarlow]

Look at Anthony Davidson's huge crash at Le Mans. He had a canopy, he was trapped upside down with a broken spine, and they had to role his car back the right way up to get him out of the car risking further injury to his back.

...as they would have also done in an open cockpit car.

[strad]

I'm sorry she got hurt but I pretty much agree with Stefan

[Mandrake]

Where did Davidson have to be rolled back? The car sat on its 4 wheels after the crash?

[adrianjordan]

it's the most serious accident in the modern era yet it wasn't at a GP.

Massa might disagree with that. Let's wait and see what her outcome is before judging this to be the most serious accident of recent times.

[Just_a_fan]

Do you think this accident will re-ignite the closed cockpit debate?

It will only be the smallest group who recognizes that accidents are simply part and parcel to the realities of life.

This would have been avoided if there had been a canopy. Wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area

The accident would have happened irrespective of the presence of a canopy. A canopy might have reduced the chances of injury in this accident but might increase the risks in other situations. Requiring all tail lift lorries to be parked with the tail lift flat on the floor or locked in the vertical stowage position would have prevented injury in this accident without increasing risks in other situations. And it wouldn't cost millions of pounds to research and implement.

[langwadt]

Where did Davidson have to be rolled back? The car sat on its 4 wheels after the crash?

indeed and he got out him self, he said later that he knew that it is usually better to stay in the seat until the doctor say is it safe to move, but he felt very claustrofobic so he crawled out at laid on the sidepod

[aral]

So, maybe find out the facts before making statements like that? Or is that too logical?

I know the facts. Do you?

Unfortunately nobody knows the facts, and it is rather pointless speculating. Even the reporter present has got things wrong..."car accellerated"...well telemetry showed that it didnt, there was no increase in engine speed. "Car went into side of the lorry"...well it didn't, it ran into rear.

Why not give the poor girl a chance to recover, before she or the team etc are condemned? Horrible acident, but speculation is silly. There will be an investigation, which hopefully will finally disclose the reason for the accident.

[Raptor22]

This would have been avoided if there had been a canopy. Wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area

This would have been avoided if the car didn't use it's engine at all in the pit lane and instead was pushed by two mechanics down the pit lane. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

This would have been avoided if grown men didn't feel the need to race stupidly fast cars around circuits at unsafe speeds. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

This would have been avoided had helicopters been used to transport everything with low loading ramps been used instead of unsafe lorries with their high tail gates. I wonder how many more signs are needed before FIA implement safety in this area.

An so on. You cannot base your decisions on freak accidents like this. In F1 at least, for every freak accident in the last 20 years where a canopy would have helped there have been several times that cars have ended up upside down where a canopy would have hindered efforts to help the driver out. Look at Anthony Davidson's huge crash at Le Mans. He had a canopy, he was trapped upside down with a broken spine, and they had to role his car back the right way up to get him out of the car risking further injury to his back.

Unfortunately there are no easy answers or quick solutions and that's before we even talk about the spectacle and the need for many fans to be able to see the drivers in order to related to them. With a canopy then for many people (not all) there is an emotional disconnect - it's fundamentally hard wired into us.

I can't agree.
Davidson's roof is what saedhim from further injury. To removehim from an open cockpit car would have required the car to be rolled over anyway. The roof provided a standoff for his head from the accident. An open cockpit would make his head part of it.
Also every major accident in the last 30 years in Motorsport, has involved an element of head injury to a larger or lesser degree. in about 90% of the fatalities a head injury is the primary cause of death.
Ratzenberger's head hit a wall
Senna head was hit by a wheel and the helmet penetrated by a suspension arm
Berger's head also hit a wall which knocked him unconscious and due to the angle of the accident to the wall it was not fatal/
How many near misses go by and its claimed " oh we're lucky it only this"
Luck has nothing to do with it. acident are accidents but many are preventable.

Closed cockpits may not be palatable but it only takes a really horrifc accident to get the message across.
Schumacher had a lucky escape in Abu Dhabi in 2010, De viollota may be another lucky escape with consequenses but will it take a decapitation event on global tv to get the message across?

What amazes me is the increasing caapcity of the human monkey to believe in luck

[FW17]

If not a canopy, something else has to be done asap. F1 just cannot go on indefinitely with a risk that some people feel is acceptable.

[stefan_]

Yes, something must be done, as in the people who watch F1 expecting to see drivers run around in 100% safe bubbles must go away. It is a sport where you have to have balls to do it, and if you don't have them, you must go and do something else, don't try to change the sport in order to diminish your fears. Back in the days, people were thrown off the cars, burned and crippled and still there were some brave enough to stay in line to drive those cars.

Decapitation? Excuse me, madame, but you are exaggerating big time. If we build something based on a bunch of "what ifs.." the we might as well forget about it.

[Just_a_fan]

^ =D>