all I can say is holy shit

 

Lots of contributing factors.

That section getting more waterlogged, visibility dropping, may not have seen the yellows, may have seen them and not slowed down enough, etc etc

 

If I've just gone through a yellow, and the next flag I can see is green, that means game on once you see it rather than once you go past it. Assuming you can't see any obstacle.

In MSA terms the green is to signal all clear after a yellow.

But note section D below (not sure if this is replicated by the FIA, but I'd imagine so)

15.1.1. At an incident where the track is obstructed, or marshals are working at the trackside, the following signals will be used:
(a) A STATIONARY Yellow at the post before a WAVED Yellow.
(b) A waved Yellow flag at the post immediately preceding the incident. NB: In very serious cases, this flag may be supplemented by an additional waved yellow flag at a preceding post. (The waved yellow flag may also be supplemented by flashing yellow warning lights).
(c) A stationary Green flag at the post immediately after the incident.
(d) If the incident is well off the track and marshals are not working at the trackside, the incident may be indicated by a stationary yellow flag, followed by a stationary green flag, or by a Hazard Area board.

The marshall had clearly decided that Sutils car was sufficiently out the way to switch from double waved yellow to green. Now either he got the shout from race control, or he decided himself.

If it was from race control, and Bianchi got the green on his steering wheel, well it's not going to look very good.

Not sure if Marussia have that on their wheel though.

 

Kubica went nearly head on into a concrete wall in Canada and walked away. The cars are amazingly strong; I wouldn't be surprised if Bianchi has no significant body injury. I'm not sure how strong a canopy can be with it having to be transparent, but clearly if there's a canopy and the driver is wearing a helmet the chance of a serious head injury will be greatly reduced. Closed cockpits will no doubt be on the agenda again after this; it's going to be compulsory at Le Mans I think for 2016.

 

If you look at the footage of the impact, I don't think a canopy or his helmet would have helped. To me it seemed like he underode the counterbalance weight at the back of the tractor and the force lifted the tractor which is obviously a considerable weight. A very bad impact and I wish him a speedy recovery.

And defiantly not a one in a million accident, that would be classed on a public road as an accident black spot, the two offs were identical.

 

Closed canopy is fine as long as its caged and not just a lid.

 

F1 have already done tests on canopies and basically like MB says, you need a full cage. You just cannot make a clear canopy strong enough and light enough and retain visibility.

 

Not that many cars retired from the race though,even maldanardo stayed on the track...remember Brasil in 06 that was carnage,esp for Webber and Alonso.

 

Skirts or safety bars around the perimeter of the crane/tractor to prevent the cars from going underneath would prevent this.

The issue isn't him hitting it, its the going underneath that has caused the injury.

Crash barriers are now designed at certain heights to prevent exactly this. Wouldn't take that much to modify the vehicles with high ground clearance that are track side during the race.

Horrible crash though. I'm surprised he's alive.

 

Just think about the skirts though. Bianchi's car lifted up that truck. The size and weight of the skirts required would be infeasible. It may just be that you have to put a safety car out, and get all the cars behind it before you allow recovery trucks onto the "live" circuit.