Motorsports - F1, Superbikes etc

This account from Grosjean is just stunning:

On Wednesday, Grosjean spoke to French media about the accident, saying he believed the halo head-protection device introduced into F1 in 2018 had saved his life.

The halo was adopted following the death of Frenchman Jules Bianchi, who suffered severe head injuries in an accident in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix and died nine months later.

Grosjean said: “Jules saved my life. Without Jules’ accident, there probably wouldn’t have been a halo. And without halo, no more Romain Grosjean.”

He described the moments inside the car as he realised there was a fire and was struggling to get out.

“After the shock, I open my eyes,” he said. “I take off my harness, I hit something that blocks me: I think it’s the halo. I sit down and I tell myself that someone will come and help me. At this moment, I don’t realise that there is fire.

"Then I look to the left: it’s all orange; I find it weird. I understood then that there was fire because the plastic of my ‘tear off’ (visor) caught fire. I try to get out without succeeding.

"I have time to think that I will end up like Niki Lauda, ​​burnt. I tell myself that it is not possible, that I cannot end like this. I tried straight ahead, then right. Every time, I’m stuck.

“I sit down again and there is a strange moment when I see death as near as you can see it. My body almost relaxes and tells itself it’s over.

"I wondered which part was going to burn first, and if it was going to be my hand. I took 53G on my head so obviously I’m a little stunned.

“But then I pull like crazy because my left foot is stuck under the pedal. I tell myself that I haven’t tried to slip on the other side yet.

"I put my hands in the fire, the gloves turn all black, I feel the pain, I know then that I am burning my hands. As the chest passes (the cockpit), it’s deliverance. I know I’m going to live. I pass the barrier, I feel the doctor pulling on my suit. He says to me ‘Sit down’.

“The impact, frankly, is not that bad. Everyone thought I would have a concussion or a blackout. But nothing, I can hear [FIA Dr] Ian Roberts talking to me. I immediately thought of removing the gloves, which were melting.”

Grosjean added: "The survival instinct was the strongest - even after thinking that I was going to die, I had the lucidity to think about the movement to be made.

“I saw death too closely, it’s a feeling that I don’t wish on anyone. It will change my life forever. At that point, I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t annoyed but I didn’t want it to end like this."

Grosjean said he had since been “haunted by the idea of death” and had spoken to the psychologist he has been seeing since 2012 about it.

He re-emphasised his desire to race in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 13-15 December, if possible. He is leaving the Haas team at the end of the season and does not have a drive for 2021.

"The big problem is the left hand,” he said. “It will take three weeks for it to heal. So the idea, if I drive to Abu Dhabi, is to put on cream, and a latex glove before putting on the fireproof glove.

“The rest is better, the right hand, in seven days, it’s perfect."

:open_mouth:That’s a shocking amount of force

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And everyone was worried about Huawai and 5g…

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Video of that interview:

https://youtu.be/QDT-tMtdfSo

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I only hope this stops him from driving like a fucking lunatic in future,karma if you will.

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My thoughts after watching this video were - thank god he had kids as the incentive to escape! Hope he doesn’t get too many flashbacks and nightmares in the future, he’s bound to get some sadly.

Very, very lucky man.

He shouldnt be on a f1 car with his record of accidents. Glad he got out of it alive.

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He drives like he’s in a go cart (well that’s how I see it). This latest incident he crossed 3 ‘racing lines’ on a corner within the 1st lap. It should be investigated.
Compare that the the video of Raikkonen that Zoran posted above. What he does is daring but he’s respecting the lines of the other pilots who obviously respect him and keep to their lines.
F1 go carts :astonished:

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Kimi’s a class apart obviously. He would make the top 5 racers of the last 15 years easily. But it’s clear that Romain is a liability.

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Yes always loved watching Kimi. He was the top driver of the ‘generation’ before Hamilton. They crossed a bit so the story goes started a bit of a rivalry (apparently Hamilton was the wipper snapper and only real competition for Kimi). 2 brilliant drivers though I prefer watching Kimi just that bit more ‘exciting’. Still thinkHamilton is the best though. :grinning:

Always reckoned Kimi to be the best racer I’ve watched post Senna and Mika. Just that he’s a James Hunt kinda guy.

  1. Senna
  2. Mika
  3. Kimi
  4. JPM
  5. LH

in my view. By racer I mean guys who are exciting to watch.

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KR top 5 of the last 15 years? Probably.

The five being, in no particular order, Alonso, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Verstappen and…? Vettel? Leclerc?

Your second list though…Hamilton 5th?!! Hamilton’s a better racer than all of those including Senna, imo. His relentless pace and faultless driving is legendary among his fellow drivers. Rosberg was so exhausted by the level he had to maintain, even with greater fortune with reliability, that he immediately retired after pipping Hamilton in 2016. Alonso felt he had to move teams to have a chance of beating him (when he was still a rookie) in a title race.

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Wish him a good career. Hope he has the better parts of his father’s driving traits and not the worst of them.

By racer, I mean the guys who make things exciting. I’ve edited my post to convey the same.

Hamilton is a superior f1 driver from all bar Senna in my list , that, there is no doubt and neither am i disputing that.

Vettel over Leclerc, 2 WDC’s is a thing worth talking about. It’ll be a toss up between Leclerc , Verstappen, Button & Rosberg for the last spot.

Mika? Hakkinen?
Yes something like that. Hamilton just makes it look easy but technically probably the best pilote ever, he’s just so good it doesn’t look like he’s taking a risk even if he is so he doesn’t really get into exciting.
There’s been a lot of pilotes that get ‘forgotten’ who were very good Gerhard Berger for example (struggled due to his size but very good pilote).
Senna? That was the days of Turbo they all looked excitng back in those days didn’t they? (The days of cigarette sponsorship JPS lovely looking machines). :grinning:

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Wouldn’t be talking about Mika Salo would I ? :joy:

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And I checked , Vettel’s got 4 now … that was probably the time i dozed off while watching f1

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Yep, but Vettel is probably the most overrated driver of the last 30+ years. Alonso has been quite blunt in his opinion of him.

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The trouble I have come to have with Vettel is he seems to need a good car where as others can make the car look good.

Rosberg is a good shout then so are all of them. :rofl:

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