Well they left him out there on old tyres a sitting duck to the three behind him, a bit like Hamilton was in the last race of last season but they really didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision.
Just seen the highlights now - as soon as Ocon stopped where he did there was only ever gonna be one outcome, Shirley, so they’d have had more than 6 secs, no?
A bit surprised they didn’t box him
PS - Holy Shit, Leclerc & Lewis round Copse!!! Bravo, Charles
I think the gamble was could they get round, do a pit stop and get out again before the VSC became a full SC and I don’t think they did.
During the race they said the team had 11 secs to make the choice and were baffled why they didn’t.
Binotto seemed to have a right go at Leclerc after the race, I assume it was along the lines of “say anything bad about the team or tactics and you’re out.”
If they brought them both in Sainz would have lost track position because he would have been waiting behind Leclerc who also had the fresher tyres of the two. They wanted Sainz as Leclerc’s rear gunner but he told them no and Binotto seems to struggle with giving his drivers orders during races. A good decision by Sainz.
Wasn’t there a gap between them at that point that would have let them stack without huge loss?? Seems they chose the worst of all options
Ferrari didn’t think so.
There was a gap, (6 seconds according to the coverage I was watching, it was on both C4 and Sky) but LeClerc was close to the pit lane and missed it. Once VSC bccame full SC there was no gap and Leclerc would have been way down the pack
I’ve tried and failed to rationalise it, but nope, completely baffling. Ferrari seem at least as error-prone as Mercedes, unforced errors of every kind abound in tactics, technical and trackside… Frankly bizarre.
2 Likes
Am I right in thinking that this is where the halo really did it’s job?
I’m sure I’ve seen cars slide upside down like that before without the driver being seriously injured (I’m assuming that the vent structure above the drivers head is also roll-cage). But that resting place looks like it would have been a complete disaster without the halo.
Edit: I’ve a corollary question, probably in particular for Frank. I realise that after Senna’s fatal accident, they took steps to stop the wheels coming off the car in the event of a crash. It strikes me that a halo still makes more sense as a solution - it would protect against errant wheels, but also anything else that might come towards the driver. Was something like the halo device even discussed as a safety measure at the time?
I think it really helped when he was sliding along the tarmac upside down at 150mph.
1 Like
Actually, has the halo allowed them to change the layout of the roll cage in the car appreciably? I always assumed that the drivers head was kept within a safe triangle (when viewing the profile of the car) between the top of the air inlet above his head, and a point somewhere on the nose of the car. Halo potentially removes that.
The “safe triangle” still exists. The forward point is the top end of the foot box.
The halo was in addition to.
The sole purpose of the halo is to prevent object intrusion…wheels, large body parts, whole cars (Goeswrong on Alonso in Spa, and Max on Lewis in Italy), etc.
Indy went for a screen which would have helped prevent the suspension part from hitting Massa.
1 Like
I was always a big fan of the halo. It gives good protection and visibility.
I was super shocked that the main rollover hoop behind the driver’s head either snapped off or was ground down by the road surface.
The rules specify the static load it should withstand but I always specified a metal “butterfly” laminated into the composite layup so if the car slid upside down it could only grind off a few layers before encountering metal. I have never been impressed by the resistance to composites rubbing on the road surface so felt the addition was worthwhile even though not required by the rules.
Shocking accident so glad, and amazed he was OK.
Just got back from the Frank Williams memorial and met loads of old friends some of whom I hadn’t seen for decades. A really brilliant day.
15 Likes
7 Likes
I was there. It was a great day and saw people I hadn’t seen for decades, like Bubbles Horsley. It was really big with people travelling from Australia and Brazil to be there, unlike the funeral which was just 30 family and friends.
7 Likes
Jungle drums around the powertrain bit is that there may be changes there. It is starting to be seen as not a good place to work, and given the interconnectedness of engineering these reputations can spread quickly.