Alonso crash was “strange” – Vettel

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In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel, who witnessed Fernando Alonso’s testing crash, says it was a “strange” incident which happened at a comparatively low speed.

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Alonso concussed after test crash (BBC)

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

High winds catch out Sainz (Sky)

"On one of my long runs with the hard tyre – which is obviously not very grippy here – I lost the car in snap oversteer, went into the wall and damaged the car quite badly."

Kvyat feels ‘big, big potential’ in RB11 (F1i)

"I think the steps which we are making are good, encouraging, and I think there is big, big potential but how big time will show."

Rosberg plays down lap times on medium tyre (Crash)

"'If you say so,' he responded when it was suggested how strong the lap was. 'Not so much when we are looking at times from other days and things like that, but I think we are getting there.'"

Vettel not put off by 'teething problems' (ESPN)

"We could not run as much as we'd like, but at this stage of winter testing there are always some teething problems you have to deal with."

Tost unhappy with testing in Europe (Autosport)

"I don't like the tests in February here in Europe. You don't get the feedback on all the technical topics you need to be well prepared for the start of the season. Last year's test in Bahrain was much more useful."

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Comment of the day

It’s getting harder to find the silver lining on McLaren’s cloud:

As much as I want to try and draw some positives for McLaren from this test, it’s hard to see it as anything other than a disaster. Losing time when you find a fault is one thing, but to lose half a day following a crash is a big blow.

I’ve no doubt they’ll get the car running properly eventually, but the chances of it really being ready in time for Melbourne are becoming slimmer and slimmer. They have a huge hill to climb, and being the only car running the Honda power unit, they need to be clocking up as many laps as possible.

Of course, as bad as it is for them, Force India are yet to even put in a lap.
@MazdaChris

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Hans Hermann, who raced for the original Mercedes team in the 1950s, was born on this day in 1909. He won the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1952 in a 300SL he shared with Fritz Riess. Hermann died in 1987.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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80 comments on “Alonso crash was “strange” – Vettel”

  1. I don’t want to bee too cynical but it is very strange that Mclaren have not disclosed any other details about the accident. Any footage of the crash haven’t surfaced either. The way SV described what happened makes it seem like he just didn’t loose control

    1. @f1freek The photos seems to show like it happened on a straight section after a corner https://imgur.com/a/BJfWo

      1. It’s hard to tell anything from these photos as the crash itself happens between frames, what is surprising is that Alonso should suffer concussion from what appears to be nothing more than a standard heavy “brush” with the wall, a brush in sufficient to bounce the car back towards the track. The marshalls may want to revue their policy of blocking the view of the driver being stretchered away, it allows the imagination to run riot, if this was nothing more than a simple concussion I’m sure Alonso would have liked to be able to give the cameras a reassuring wave or thumbs-up for his famillies sake.

        1. I saw something on tumblr earlier that put together a lot of tweets and reactions and made a sort of a timeline of events, and at the end it speculated that a plausible scenario that could’ve occurred is that the recovery system could’ve faulted and shocked Alonso, causing him to pass out, which would explain why he appeared to arbitrarily turn right and hit a wall at only 150kph. It would make sense, it’s such a serious and well…(no pun intended)shocking fault. It would be no surprise that McLaren and Honda would be so tight lipped about something like that. And maybe the reason he was concussed after such a relatively minor impact is because he wasn’t conscious, and couldn’t brace himself. This validates the marshal’s use of sight blankets and rubber gloves when getting Alonso out of the car. I mean, lifting an unconscious and seemingly lifeless body out of a Formula 1 car is not something anyone wants to see, and this also explains Alonso not walking around and assuring everyone of his well being afterwards. This is of course just wild speculation, but to me it fills in some of the holes left by the secretness of the whole thing.

          1. Yes that makes sense, thanks Alex, but would he still have been unconscious when they loaded him into the air ambulance?

          2. @hohum This Sky interview with an FIA representative said that doctors were able to talk to Alonso, I assume those at the track. Plus it was said that they have “images” of the crash, whether that means onboards, I dunno https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZZ8UBqipaQ

          3. I doubt that whether a driver braces himself or not makes any difference in the outcome of an accident. It shouldn’t.

          4. if it’s the case, that’s serious!

          5. @ironcito of course that makes a difference. The most obvious difference is that, when an impact is unavoidable, they will let go of the steering wheel and cross their arms over the chest. This in order to prevent them breaking arms, hands or fingers.
            But also for their heads, if they’re unconscious on impact their head is probably going to slam around more than if they brace for impact, because of their neck muscles being totally soft and loose.

          6. For Alonso to have received a shock in the car he would have needed to be touching ground, the big rubber tyres provide a lot of insulation.
            That’s why we see drivers jump from the cars if they stop on track with a fault, why marshals and mechanics have thick insulated gloves and access to a master kill button on the monocoque

          7. @scuderia-alex: Interesting idea and it certainly sounds possible.
            If Alonso was completely out of it and relaxed (not in the process of being shocked) I would expect his arms to be damaged – they are the one section that isn’t strapped down or protected in some other way.
            Of course he could have lost control without completely losing consciousness before hitting the barriers.

          8. I find it utterly implausible to be honest. Not only is it extremely unlikely that he would have received a shock in the car, the details we do know wouldn’t actually be consistent. If the KERS system had somehow discharged through the steering wheel, it would have taken a direct path up his arms, though his chest, and out of his back via the carbon fibre seat. That would do two things; firstly it’d give him very serious burns on his hands, arms and torso, it’d also stop his heart. What it wouldn’t do, is knock him out, because the electricity wouldn’t pass through his head. Electricity passes from the source (presumed steering wheel) to the nearest point of ground (the part of his body in closest contact with the least resistance, to a bit of bare carbon). His head is actually the best insulated part of his body – you could probably pass a high voltage charge through his helmet while he was wearing it, and it wouldn’t ever touch his head.

            So, since he was apparently unconscious for a short period after the crash (I don’t buy 10 minutes, sorry) and has now spent a night in hospital under observation for what sounds like mild concussion, it seems far more plausible that he simply bumped his head when the car crashed, and was temporarily knocked out. If the KERS had discharged through his body (remember, this is almost impossible as it is grounded to the chassis, and no part of the circuit sends high voltage to the steering wheel) he’d firstly be badly burned, and secondly the witnesses would have seen the emergency crew trying to restart his heart. I’m fairly sure that kind of a detail wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. Instead, every report seems to be that he was not immediately responsive, and seemed confused for a minute in the car, all consistent with a blow to the head. Backed up by the concussion which he definitely would not have if he’d received a severe electric shock.

            Some have suggested that 150kph is too slow to receive a concussion. To that I say – nonsense. Almost all road traffic accidents occur at far slower speeds, where people frequently get reduced to pulp. I managed to knock myself out once while riding a water slide. I was knocked senseless wearing a helmet while a passenger in a drift car, because a sudden change of direction made me bump my head on the B Pillar. What I’m saying, is that speed isn’t really a factor here. The big thing is the speed of deceleration of your head. The car may only have been going 150kph, but it slammed into a concrete wall, and from the pictures, came to rest very quickly afterwards. That would easily generate enough Gs to set off the G Alarms on the cockpit, and to cause him to bump his head hard enough to knock him out for a minute. It’s why they have the G Alarms on the car in the first place, because in some cases a driver could be knocked out, but by the time the crews get to him, he’s woken up and is just a bit dazed, and may not even realise he’s been oncoscious.

            There’s no evidence of anything sinister. The only unknown is why the car left the track in the first place. But this could happen for a million reasons. A fault with the car, a sneeze by the driver, a bug crawling on his visor… Human beings are primitive, fallible things when it comes down to it. I almost had a head-on collision in my car because a bee flew in the window and landed on my neck, and I freaked out and made the car swerve. Or he may not have been feeling well, and suffered a moment of gastric distress, as the initial reports suggested.

            Currently here’s the bottom line – if you believe that he received a shock, it’s because you WANT that to be the reason. Either because you have an issue with McLaren, or you have an issue with the hybrid concept, or just because you think is makes a cool story. But there’s no evidence. No part of the story which can’t be better explained without the need to ignore the laws of physics. It’s pretty sick really, when a driver is laying in hospital having suffered a head injury.

            This will be my final post on the subject. I don’t want to continue arguing with people who are determined to be ignorant or sensationalist.

          9. Very solid post there @mazdachris – it seems that the knock came from hitting the wall more or less sideways with the wheels (reports say up to 30 G and sustained 15G for several seconds) so there was no deformation that could have softened the blow.

          10. Thanks Stretch for posting a link to those pitures. The KERS lights near the roll hoop are green from the 7th Picture down. It’s not possible to see them in the pictures whilst the car is moving (the ones before the 7th picture).

            This proves nothing. It’s just interesting. Just thought I’d mention it.

          11. reports say ( ) 15G for several seconds

            What I recall from school:
            * 1g = 9.8m/sˆ2 {metre per second squared}, which equals accelerating from standstill to 9.8m/s (=35km/h) over 1 second (-1g is stopping that fast).
            * 15g = 147m/sˆ2 – stopping from 529km/h over 1 second;
            * 15g for several seconds (assume 2) = stopping from 1058km/hr over 2 seconds.
            Thus this is clearly impossible even when crashing full speed head on into a brick wall.

            PS – 15g during a split second is common (just hit that brick wall with your fist)
            (@bascb)

          12. Could people please stop saying he would need to be grounded. It confuses the issue.

            In this case, what would be needed is for there to be a path from the positive side to the negative side of the ES through his body. I am unsure how it is wired (I have not worked with Hybrids or EVs with high voltage battery packs) so I am unsure whether they connect the negative side to vehicle ground (i.e. metal bodywork). However, if the do, it is just about plausible that some part of his body touched a metal component which had shorted to the positive side, while some other part was touching some exposed metal bodywork. As the ES is high voltage, there is a possibility that he could have been shocked in this manner, even through clothing (which could very well have been damp due to sweat, even in those temperatures).

            I find it highly unlikely, but the fact that the tyres are rubber does not help when both the positive and negative side are on board.

          13. @drmouse – You’re right of course, and hopefully in my post above it was clear that by ‘ground’ I was referring to exactly what you’re saying – the driver effectively closing the circuit between positive and negative on the car’s electrical system. As I say, I can’t see really how that could result in a severe shock from the KERS system as that would naturally be fairly isolated, both in terms of insulation and in terms of the high voltage circuitry) from the rest of the electrical system. So even if the chassis itself had become shorted by the KERS, there shouldn’t have been any way that he could have physically completed the circuit elsewhere on the car. But even still, possible/not possible, it doesn’t make it the most plausible explanation. Especially in light of his manager’s recent statement that Alonso was attempting to steer and brake and shift gears right up to the moment of impact, which he certainly couldn’t have done if he’d been shocked or had fainted. He was clearly conscious and in control of his faculties right up to the moment of impact, making (to my mind) the most obvious explanation either a fault with the car, or a sudden gust of wind causing it to lose control.

          14. yep, that should have been several miliseconds (I checked, its 54 miliseconds) @coldfly

      2. @stretch Same place that Maldonado hit the wall in qualifying last year, between T3/T4.

    2. Look at the picture. The mclaren mechanics are wearing gloves,which clearly show that there was something wrong with the car and they were afraid of an electric shock or something. Also there was a photographer who took the pictures of the accident and he said that Alonso was unconscious for at least 10 minutes and that he didn’t respond to the slaps the rescue workers were giving to his helmet. Also it is quite clear that button did not go out because the team neither didn’t know what happened nor they wanted to risk button. So for that reason they concluded their test at that moment.

      1. Mechanics have often worn gloves for the last year or so, especially after break downs, so you can’t read anything into that.

    3. I saw this drawing of the situation https://twitter.com/LorenzoDL83/status/569739267381047298/photo/1 it really does seem strange that Alonso turns into the wall on the inside of the corner there.

      Who knows, he might have wanted to let Vettel past, there could have been something broken on the car or … anyhow, it does seem like not a “normal” accident where the driver goes off on the outside of the corner after losing control.

      1. @bascb, 30G sounds extremely high for the apparent angle at which the car hit the wall, I guess we will get a better explanation eventually.

        1. It seems the 30g was caused mainly because the impact was sideways on the wheels – so almost no softening of the blow by bodywork deformation (I read that in AMuS – German) @hohum

          1. @bascb That sounds pretty plausible. And lateral G is one of the most potentially harmful ways of injuring the brain, as the two hemispheres of the brain can move apart and rupture blood vessels and cause bleeding, as well as swelling. It’s not uncommon for people who have suffered a side impact in a traffic accident, to get out of the car feeling fine, and then slip into a coma later. That would certainly explain why they are keen to keep Alonso under close observation. The fact the CT scan came back clear is encouraging though. But it’s always better to err on the side of caution where any brain injury is concerned, no matter how minor.

        2. @hohum A 30g impact is equivalent to a change of speed of ~50kph in 0.05s which is plausible from a glancing impact between a wall and non-deformable parts of the car at ~150kph.

          1. Only if it’s maintained @jimbo, and the car clearly travelled a lot of metres. 30g would be a pulse at the tub, of very short duration, and duration of the acceleration is a key stat we don’t have. The driver won’t even feel a short pulse, because he is only loosely coupled to the car, and his head is cushioned by the foam cockpit surround too.

            Add that consideration to the fact all the wheels stayed on, the weird nature of the off, and I suspect the 30g/concussion story is to draw a veil over the real issue. Love to be wrong though.

          2. @lockup Only if what is maintained? A change of speed of 50kph in 0.05s is ~30g. If the length of time was longer the g experienced would be less. The impact only lasts for as long as the car is caused to change direction from the initial impact. That impulse force causes the initial 30g, whilst the car is then travelling along the wall there will be lots of little shocks due to smaller impacts, front wing under the car etc but nothing that rivals that initial 30g. The g sensor is attached to the tub not the driver and that is what this is based on. The drivers helmet will also be hit by the car body and any small amount of foam is not going to cushion a sudden change in speed of 50kph. Thats like being hit by a car going 50kph and expecting a cm of foam to stop you getting injured. Not going to happen.

            The wheels and suspension are designed to be strong in the very direction the impact happened – perpendicular to the car. The same reason you don’t get wheels falling off when they brush the wall on exiting corners etc.

          3. What I was getting at @jimbo is that a 30g pulse in the tub may not produce any significant g for the driver’s head. The car was doing 150 kmh longitudinally and as far as we know was just steered towards the wall so it would have rubbed along the wall as the pics suggest, and normally that does wipe off the corners if there’s much energy in it.

            The cockpit surround is quite thick and made of velocity-sensitive visco-elastic foam.

            So, well there’s a lot we don’t know isn’t there, but I’m doubting there was enough of an impact to give a driver concussion.

          4. @lockup It’s the 30g at the tub that triggers the need for the driver to be taken to hospital due to potential injuries such as concussion. If the tub experienced a 30g shock then concussion is a possible and not unusual outcome of that. If this was not the case they wouldn’t have the rule. As @mazdachris pointed out it is lateral shocks that are the most dangerous and this is what happened in this instance.

          5. @lockup, I think after that initial shock of 30G there was then a sustained impact of 15G for 54 miliseconds (as mentioned in the article I linked to above).

            So even if you want to maintain that the 30G would not be a big issue, the sustained 15G would still make it a very big lateral stress on the driver which surely warrants being very carefull and keeping him in observation for a while.

          6. Mmmm okay @bascb @jimbo I should’ve checked the amus link. Cockpit warning light on and he couldn’t answer simple questions, I guess that does point to concussion.

      2. Don’t think that drawing is correct, Alonso is near outside of track in the 1st of the sequence of photo’s in the first post.

    4. Looks like he locked a tyre before the accident https://twitter.com/SomosF1com/status/569791172744515584

      1. I don’t think that is Alsonso’s crash position, look at the sequence photo’s in the first post.

        Sainz also crashed at the same corner, are they his tracks?

        1. I think your right, Alonso crashed later on, wrong photo

      2. Or he was unconcious at that point and had his brake foot on the pedal like Massa in Hungary when he was unconcious

  2. Interesting top-speeds, RBR still giving away +- 12 kph, power or drag induced, that is the question.

  3. COTD – though i agree to much of it, i feel McLaren issues are not all that serious, it’s just a few niggles which they will get on top of with some time… car may lack bullet proof reliability but that’s cause they went for extreme performance… McLaren will be fast & reliable just a matter of few weeks.

    Regarding Force India, they could come out with a surprise as this will be their first car with max allowed CFD & 60% wind tunnel. FI does not need to check out engine & it’s cooling issues. they will get data from Mercs & working out tyres is their forte…. so they should be ok.

    1. Re-Force India
      We all know from past experiences, that when teams miss tests and then test with an old car is the kiss of death for the season to pretty much all the teams that have tried it in recent times. Leaving just 4days for testing the new car is not going to give them a competitive edge. I believe the FI are using the chance to run extra tunnel time with a 60% model is just a smoke screen to avoid going fully public about their current financial situation. Most of the other teams have run 60% models for some time now and it doesn’t make a night and day difference to the way the aero is configured. I’d say they are in trouble and I will wait to see if the new car is ready for the next test or not.

    2. I’m not sure. I’m starting to worry they won’t see the finish line in Melbourne.

    3. About McLaren, sure it’s starting to look like they will have a hard time in the beginning of the season (although everything is still possible). But I’m sure they wouldn’t have expected to enter F1 and take everything by storm in the first year. If the base car and PU designs are fast and they work on reliability so that they can start challenging for podiums by the end of the year, then that will be a good base for 2016. Sure they could have hoped to do a little bit better than that but realistically 2016 was always going to be the earliest they would really be competitive.

  4. The top speeds are both interesting and worrying. Rosberg at no point higher than 3rd yet the Mercedes was almost as quick as the lotus in lap times, on the Medium tyres and not breaking any records in the speed traps. We know from last year Mercedes have a good chassis, but this year it may be a truly great chassis, given that to do that fast lap, on mediums, without setting the spied traps in fire, means they can carry some real speed through the corners to make up for it. Very RedBull-esqu wouldn’t you say?

    1. Difficult to ascertain, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Mercedes are looking pretty damn good. A lot of people keep telling themselves (& the rest of us) that Red Bull had the best chassis last year but I don’t agree one bit. The W05 was one slick car aerodynamically. All you need to do is compare them to Williams to see that there was much more than the best engine going on under the skin of that car.
      They’ve not brought any serious aero upgrades yet & Hamilton is already saying it feels like the W06 has more downforce, & Wehrlein (who got to test the ’14 & ’15 PU’s back to back) says this year’s unit is noticeably more powerful. We haven’t even started mulling over the possibility that based on Mercedes’ earlier statements about running higher fuel pressures & boost, they might be even more efficient than last year, & that’s a huge performance boost if they’re able to carry less fuel while still making more power. I’m no expert by any means, but all the experts seem to agree that things are looking really good for Mercedes. They might even have a better season than last.

      1. I read Wehrleins comment and I did not see any mention of more power, he said the difference was noticeable, but the ” more powerful” part was only said by the questioner and neither the question nor the answer was concise on the question of vastly increased power.

    2. I bet Grosjean’s enjoying himself. Bit of a change from last year! But yeah, wouldn’t be surprised at all if Mercedes turn up at Melbourne a second quicker than anything else.

  5. McLaren probably aren’t fretting over Melbourne. They knew they weren’t going to win this championship. Better to bet it all on creating a truly fast car concept that can be a genuine threat in years to come and work out the niggles this year than to build another reliable and consistent midfield car.

    If anyone can get a win other than Mercedes this year, I think it still may be them later in the season. And with a years running and development with a works engine and their new aero philosophy they could be a real force in 2016.

  6. That was very sneaky by that Williams engineer!

    1. Nice work. The guys shuffling round the back of the Red Bull on the grid, hiding it from the cameras, aren’t part of the test team!
      Looking at those speed trap figures, the Red Bull is going well at Sector 2 (after the fast uphill right at Campsa?) so well worth a sneaky look!

    2. It wasn’t exactly sneaky ,
      Sneaky would be a zoom lense ?

      That’s getting right up that cars kyber, lol

  7. To the cotd. I think McLaren is indeed very promising, both McLaren and Honda aimed at the stars, Honda is making use of the advantage of knowing what system to pursue with no freeze restrictions, obviously however Honda has the disadvantage of a year less in experience after not pledging to F1 in 2014, that said strategically that must make Honda the most capable of challenging the Mercedes power unit. Button managed to make a very decent time for McHonda so I don’t see any grim scenario, especially because the powerunit can be changed after homologation.

  8. Look at the picture. The mclaren mechanics are wearing gloves,which clearly show that there was something wrong with the car and they were afraid of an electric shock or something. Also there was a photographer who took the pictures of the accident and he said that Alonso was unconscious for at least 10 minutes and that he didn’t respond to the slaps the rescue workers were giving to his helmet. Also it is quite clear that button did not go out because the team neither didn’t know what happened nor they wanted to risk button. So for that reason they concluded their test at that moment.

    1. First of all, the gloves is pretty much standard procedure if the car came to a sudden halt and the batteries therefore weren’t emptied.

      Alonso was NOT unconscious for at least 10 minutes either, although he did take his time getting out of the car, was not answering all questions from the Marshalls without hesitation and went to lie down in the grass before being put on the stretcher, so he clearly was not ok.

      As for Button not going out, the team itself has stated that they needed to check the gearbox etc and that check would take so much time that they found it wasn’t worth the effort for maybe a few laps right at the end. Sure enough they know that the biggest issue are the niggling problems with the power train and they will hope to finally get some running in in the next test with an updated PU and solutions to the problems that stopped them this week.

  9. Interesting article from German AMuS – Because the 28th of February is during the weekend (and the FIA inspectors apparently won’t be available to have it presentded), Honda get an exta 2 days before they have to present their engine on Monday March 2nd.

    At the same time the bad news for Honda (although its bad news for the other engine manufacturers as well) is that the FIA had a look at the changes made to the engines this week and found that the token numbers used claimed by the manufacturers are about 2-3 lower than what the FIA inspectors registered. Which means less tokens avialable for Honda (but really also for the others) during the season.

  10. Is he okay now? Has Fernando or someone from his family given any statement yet? No news is worrying

      1. thanks Keith .. am eagerly awaiting to hear from the man himself :) hopefully we will hear from him today

    1. I just heard on the radio that Alonso is staying in the hospital for observation another night (with the impact it makes sense to err on the safe side, especially when the season is to start soon) @u2f1, @keithcollantine

  11. The only reasonable explanation there is, I think, Is a malfunction of the mgu-k, which made the car brake hard suddenly right after the turn when alonso was not expecting it and he it the wheel with his head and concussed,lost consciousness and slowly hit the wall.

    1. HANS device would stop his head getting anywhere near the steering wheel

    2. His head wouldn’t have to hit anything, concussion can be caused by acceleration/deceleration forces without any impact.

  12. On Alonso’s accident, maybe he was just caught out by a heavy wind…

  13. http://i.imgur.com/iinuKFX.jpg?1 Is that just a shadow on the Esso advert?

    1. Reflection of the camera that sits right above it.

  14. The only solution I can think of to Franz Tost’s dislike of testing in the cold and to avoid the problems with sand and distance of last year. Would be to test in North Africa, suggestion would be get Bernie to persuade the Moroccan’s to transform the disused Anfa Airfield in Casablanca to a F1 track. He seems to like getting more and more race tracks. It has motor racing history pre-WW2.

    https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5567068,-7.6585443,2794m/data=!3m1!1e3

  15. Two things I noticed from those pictures in post one. The Green ‘safe’ light is on the car, meaning no electricity is leaking. And the steering wheel is in the same position, pre and post crash, it is possible the wheel locked perhaps.

  16. Hein Vandenbergh
    23rd February 2015, 11:58

    Right, all that’s been done over like an ATS circa 1960sumthing.
    Where was the great find of 2014, my Ozzie mate Daniel Ricciardo? Can’t see him on the timesheets. Is he still driving Korean tin on Kumo tyres around a disused UK airfield? Go guys, give us some times: he’s a great racer and qualifier. Or are we really talking about Red Bull’s demise now key designers/aerodynamicists have gone elsewhere?
    Go Danny!!!

    1. I agree
      Go Danny !
      But I feel red bull have plenty of depth and a stash of Newey secrets to keep going for a year or two:)

  17. Thanks @keithcollantine for the COTD. I don’t want to be too gloomy about the outlook for McLaren, because there are still a lot of unknowns. We have no indication really what sort of pace they can run at, although the fact they were able to get among the top speedtrap times is at least fairly encouraging. It’s entirely possible that when they do get the car working reliably, it’ll be as fast as anything on the circuit. But it’s inarguable that they are currently way behind where they would have expected to be with their testing programme, and the longer they have to spend chasing reliability issues, the less time they have for correlation/setup work that’ll help bring extra performance to the car.

    The one objective now I think is going to be for them to complete at least one successful race simulation during the third test. Preferably more than one, and preferably early on in the test. All of the major issues need to have been identified by the end of the test so that the car can be prepared for Melbourne with a reasonable chance of finishing the GP. Otherwise every GP they have to use trying to get the car finished is going to be a chunk of points they’re handing to their rivals.

    And of course, it’s certainly not how they would have wanted the new partnership with Honda to start off.

  18. So Christian Nimmervoll’s top speed table ended up being quoted by Keith. So much honour for him. It’s all fine with me, as long as I don’t have to read what he writes …

    1. Sadly, none of the speed traps at Catalunya are too indicative of engine power. They’re all at the end of straights that are preceded by high-speed corners, so that the most important factor is setup, not engine power.

  19. It doesn’t necessarily have to be mechanical problem with the car. It could be just that alonso was doing adjustments with his eyes on the steering wheel and then he just got lost for a really short moment and ended up steering more than he needed to and hit the wall. With the high winds it is possible that a gust a wind could have changed the direction of the car too.

    The fact that the car hit the inside wall of the turn suggests it was not alonso losing consciousness. If alonso had lost consciousness he would have gone straight. Not kept turning inwards.

    The fact is that he hit concrete wall at high speed. That alone is enough to give concussion. Those collisions don’t look very serious but they usually are and many drivers have lost their lives in that kind of accidents.

    As for the mechanics wearing those gloves. I think that is standard procedure. It is not that they assumed the crash was caused by electric shock of some sort. They wear the gloves because the crash could have caused damage to the car which could make it give electric shocks. It is a precaution. Also if you look at the pics of the car here:
    https://imgur.com/a/BJfWo
    You can see the kers safety lights are green on top of the roll hoop which suggest there is no electric shock warning. Or the battery has been disconnected or something whatever that light suggests.

  20. Well,
    Everyone who has Done motorsport know that this is not a hard hit to The wall.
    Look:
    https://imgur.com/a/BJfWo

    So, nobody published it on video. Camoon.
    Secret Stuff.

  21. Nothing to do with Alonso but it seems there is no other place to say it…
    It’s not Hans Hermann who won at Le Mans in 1952 but Herman Lang. Hans Hermann won Le Mans in 1970 on a Porsche and is still alive and kicking…

  22. All these theories about Fred’s crash and not one I see has mentioned Vettels car carrying an EMP ( electro magnetic pulse) device and blasting Fred for old times sake ,

    Just a theory and as plausible as many here :)

  23. I haven’t had time to read all the comments, but am I the only one who sees Vettel’s “strange” remark for what it is? An attempt to destabilize McLaren? Judging by the huge media and internet chatter driving all kinds of ridiculous conspiracy theories, I would say he’s been extraordinarily successful.

  24. Of course it was Hamilton’s fault.

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