Horror footage of Bianchi crash emerges
8 Oct 2014 11:10 PM GMT
The 25-year-old Frenchman was said to be ‘critical, but stable’ after surgery in the wake of the terrifying smash on a rain-soaked Suzuka circuit on Sunday.
Criticism grew Tuesday of race organisers, with former world champion Alan Prost weighing in to declaim errors that led to the crash.
The spectator film, posted on YouTube, shows his out-of-control Marussia slamming into the back of the yellow recovery vehicle, sparks flying as the body of the car slides underneath its raised rear end.
The impact, which appears to be at around Bianchi’s helmet height, shears off the air intake cover that hangs over the back of the driver’s head. Formula One has regularly been rocked by debate over open-top cockpits, which offer drivers little head protection.
In slow-motion, the video appears to show Bianchi’s helmet rebounding violently off the heavy lifting vehicle, which is bounced into the air by the force of the impact. The vehicle was trying to remove Adrian Sutil’s stricken Sauber, which had crashed at the same spot on the circuit a lap earlier.
Prost told Europe 1 radio that the removal truck should never have been there.
‘The entry of this crane (onto the circuit) without the safety car is totally unacceptable. It’s a real mistake that should not be repeated,’ he said, ‘A mistake has been made, that’s obvious. Who made the mistake, I’m still not entirely sure. Was it the race director or the marshals on those bends? Someone must have made the decision to remove Sutil’s car.’
Bianchi’s parents, Philippe and Christine, were joined at their son’s hospital bedside Tuesday by celebrated French surgeon G?rard Saillant, who treated Michael Schumacher after his near-fatal skiing accident last December.
Nicolas Todt, the agent for the young driver, along with F1 veteran Felipe Massa, was also there.
Massa, who visited Bianchi at the hospital on Sunday, was himself the victim of a serious injury in 2009 when he was struck by a part of another car that had come loose. Formula One’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), said Bianchi had suffered a ‘severe head injury’.
Criticism grew Tuesday of race organisers, with former world champion Alan Prost weighing in to declaim errors that led to the crash.
The spectator film, posted on YouTube, shows his out-of-control Marussia slamming into the back of the yellow recovery vehicle, sparks flying as the body of the car slides underneath its raised rear end.
The impact, which appears to be at around Bianchi’s helmet height, shears off the air intake cover that hangs over the back of the driver’s head. Formula One has regularly been rocked by debate over open-top cockpits, which offer drivers little head protection.
In slow-motion, the video appears to show Bianchi’s helmet rebounding violently off the heavy lifting vehicle, which is bounced into the air by the force of the impact. The vehicle was trying to remove Adrian Sutil’s stricken Sauber, which had crashed at the same spot on the circuit a lap earlier.
Prost told Europe 1 radio that the removal truck should never have been there.
‘The entry of this crane (onto the circuit) without the safety car is totally unacceptable. It’s a real mistake that should not be repeated,’ he said, ‘A mistake has been made, that’s obvious. Who made the mistake, I’m still not entirely sure. Was it the race director or the marshals on those bends? Someone must have made the decision to remove Sutil’s car.’
Bianchi’s parents, Philippe and Christine, were joined at their son’s hospital bedside Tuesday by celebrated French surgeon G?rard Saillant, who treated Michael Schumacher after his near-fatal skiing accident last December.
Nicolas Todt, the agent for the young driver, along with F1 veteran Felipe Massa, was also there.
Massa, who visited Bianchi at the hospital on Sunday, was himself the victim of a serious injury in 2009 when he was struck by a part of another car that had come loose. Formula One’s governing body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), said Bianchi had suffered a ‘severe head injury’.
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