Official FIA report says it was 126kph (78mph).

I can’t see it? All I can see is them saying he hadn’t slowed down sufficiently.

The wording on the failsafe says to me ‘incompatible’ means it was by-passed or simply didn’t work. That wouldn’t be an accident, it would have been deliberate. Hence if he does pass away – does that mean it could be manslaughter charges? Remember cutting and welding of Senna’s steering column? That was an alteration not avoiding something.

FIA Report on http://www.F1Fanatic.co.uk

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/12/03/fia-releases-bianchi-crash-report-findings/

11. It is not feasible to mitigate the injuries Bianchi suffered by either enclosing the driver’s cockpit, or fitting skirts to the crane. Neither approach is practical due to the very large forces involved in the accident between a 700kg car striking a 6500kg crane at a speed of 126kph. There is simply insufficient impact structure on a F1 car to absorb the energy of such an impact without either destroying the driver’s survival cell, or generating non-survivable decelerations.

It did say 78mph.

Incompatible means that the failsafe didn’t work with how they had the system configured – eg in this instance pressing both pedals didn’t drop the throttle input to zero. As I mentioned, it’s perfectly legit to have a car that allows both though the ECU by default won’t do it. That doesn’t mean it broke the rules or anything else and it doesn’t prove whether that had any impact on the crash – braking hard on very wet grass is unlikely to have much effect regardless of whether the engine is on or not.

Italy has funny laws on manslaughter/murder. I haven’t heard anything suggesting that the same is the case in Japan. Besides, the fact that Bianchi pressed both pedals would reasonably (IMO) point to a driver error – if you crashed your car with both brake and throttle pressed, would you blame the people who made the car?

Sadly a lawyer could find blame anywhere. Whether or not a court will apportion it is a different matter.

Anyhow, the team no longer exists, so there is no one to take to court.

I understand that it does still exist as there’s still a (IMO very slim) possibility that it could race next year. Most of the staff have been made redundant though but no doubt could be rehired if a miracle happens.

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/27983/9589671/exclusive-max-chilton-qa-on-marussias-fight-for-survival-and-his-own-future

The administrators own it. Its unlikely to be bought and they are auctioning off the equipment this weekend. Do they (current team – potential new owners) get the prize money for coming 10th ?

They seem to think so (see the Chilton interview) though I understood that by missing the last race they weren’t eligible for it.

McLaren still haven’t made their mind up

http://www.crash.net/f1/news/212475/1/mclaren-fails-to-reach-driver-decision.html

Wheres Jensons self-respect?

McLaren really need to take a look at how badly they’ve handled this. Regardless of all the internal shenanigans the PR aspect has been lousy – we’ll decide later this year…after the season…after 1st DEC
..after the board meeting…after the next board meeting. Haas will be announcing drivers before them at this rate.

Interesting that the VAG rumours are seeming to have a grain of truth in them too. With any luck CVC will see it is an excuse to get rid of Bernie so they can bring another manufacturer in.

name what would they race under ? autounion or bugatti ?

barnies more of a liability nowadays .. i dont understand why they dont keep all three drivers at mclaren.

You could rotate them depending on which track is best suited to the driver .. sod the drivers championship as that means nothing to the prize money and just go for the constructors.

Expect a p45 soon barnie.. your time is up much like montezemelo and also ron dennis if he keeps going like this.

Do McLaren have a board meeting to decide when to pit drivers during a race, or is that level of decision making devolved to the people on the ground? What a farce. Or are they simply hoping to avoid making a decision at all by putting it off for long enough that JB makes the decision for them (unless of course he’s already made his decision and is simply waiting for them to ask him to race next year before telling them to FO).

“No, stay out another lap”

Sounds to me like they were waiting for [and expecting] some deal or other to finalise and if it does, X [and his money] will be announced as the second driver, if it doesn’t happen, Y will be announced.

Yep, it looks like deadlock at McLaren as Ron Dennis wants one thing, everyone else another and RD is lacking the financial clout to simply push it through. Deadlines have now been pushed back to January, none of which can be good for the team!

agree with the posts above, what kind of message does it say about how the team operates, treats its drivers and staff and , its fans.
I was never a fan when Ron was there, liked them when they took on Button, now, again this season they seem to have descended into Ronness.

as for VAG entry – its still only a feasibility study, if they are thinking of a brand new from scratch team, thats a very long term commitment, if its engine supplier, then that gives them a quick entry but they could lose out because the design of the car is out of their hands, the 3rd option is to buy in to an already middle pack team (hello Force India, Sauber?)

First thing they should do is sign Button.

Skoda F1

I’d think Lotus are prime for troubles this season after losing two sponsors to Williams.

Thinking about it, McLaren’s driver decision was never going to be yesterday. Both drivers were on a PR day for Johnnie Walker in Edinburgh.

VAG + Lotus = VAGL!

errrrrr

The situation at McLaren I think is being driven by LH and Merc’s discussions.

IIRC Merc came out and said we’ll talk to Lewis at the end of the season and get things wrapped up within a few days of Abu Dhabi.

Shortly after McLaren came out and said they would have an answer by 1 Dec.

Then Lewis comes out and says ‘no rush guys, I’m world champion and things can wait a couple of weeks’.

At this point McLaren suddenly show more indecision.

Alonso no doubt is waiting to here the outcome of LH’s negotiations so he can factor in a suitable break clause / performance clause whatever that will leave him free to go to Merc should McLaren Honda be crap.

No, it isn’t. LH still has a contract for next year. He’ll just be looking at 2016 onwards. McL indecision is theirs alone.

as for VAG entry – its still only a feasibility study

Cobblers. They didn’t take on the ex Ferrari boss because they liked his ties, it was for his F1 knowledge.

And if they race under any other banner than Audi, I’ll eat my socks.

VAG rumours are interesting. With a slowing European economy I find it hard to see how they would justify the expense of an F1 team. I imagine they have looked on at Merecedes with a tinge of jealously, from nowhere to World Champions and good for the car brand. However, trying to replicate that – a very tough task.

On LH etc my 2 cents. Mercedes said mid season they though LH was paid too much and wanted to cut his wages to same level as Nico. Clearly thats a slap in the face for LH and as newly crowned World Champion he is rightly trying to get the best deal. If Merc play hardball (and I think they should, its the car you know…) then LH will move on if its the money he’s interested in.

Hes already got a contract for 2015 so any wage negotiations would be on a extension to 2015/longer deal. TBH he’d be better off seeing out 2015/current contract then seeing mid-season how Honda are getting on.

Apparently it takes Merc 3 1/2 hours to recoup LH’s salary through sponsorship, prize money, endorsements etc (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30172221).

As WDC he ain’t going to be taking a pay cut and Merc won’t expect him to.

Had he lost then they would have had some leverage.

Plus bad salary negotiations is one thing Merc wouldn’t want- imagine ‘hey Im your World Champ and you are trying to make me take a pay cut’? MiserBend

I’m staggered that as RedBull have supposedly sparked a wage reduction by taking on two junior drivers that Alonso’s contract with McLaren is worth a reputed $40m (£25.5m) a year.

If that’s the case I can’t see Hamilton agreeing to a pay cut as Alonso would also be looking for top dollar from Merc if he went there.

I think Button is going to make their decision for them. It’s getting to be a joke now.

Alonso would also be looking for top dollar from Merc if he went there.

Don’t reckon – Merc have all the cards in an Alonso/Merc deal unless LH chooses to leave. It’s the other way around for McL/Alonso with the slight caveat that if FA doesn’t sign for them (which I reckon is already a done deal so I’m not really convinced by jambalaya’s scenario though I’ll admit it fits the timeline) he’s going to have to take a sabbatical with further uncertainty on 2016.

They didn’t take on the ex Ferrari boss because they liked his ties, it was for his F1 knowledge.

Cobblers, they employed him as he has the worlds best man hair. 😛

@hora – mansell had the same situation with williams, hence he left to indycar where he smashed all those drivers to bits.

Merc have all the cards in an Alonso/Merc deal

Granted, Merc will carry the car advantage they had this year over into 2015, and so I could agree with your arguement there, but there’s no guarantee they’ll still be top of the pile in 2016.

Mansell smashed himself to bits in Indycar iirc 😉

Have they hired Domenicali every year? This year they also specifically haven’t said they’ll never enter F1 – quite the opposite.

My understanding is that VAG won’t enter until either Ecclestone or Ferdinand Piech (chairman of VAG) goes, because they hate each other (BBC Sport).

And if they race under any other banner than Audi, I’ll eat my socks.

I love a bold statement!! So why not Lamborghini, Bugatti or Porsche?

Shermer what brand would you choose if you wanted a car that could run inches behind another with no loss of performance then pass in the most unlikely places?

Haha fair point!!!

I suppose the driver wouldn’t be known for their self-effacing humbleness too, right?