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| A dark day for F1 |
I debated long and hard whether to still post this blog after Jules
Bianchi’s terrible accident near the end of the Japanese Grand Prix but whatever
happens (and we pray that Jules makes a full recovery) a motor race did take
place, there was a winner, a 1-2-3 and points were awarded. These things are
not hugely important while a man’s life hangs in the balance. The Japanese
Grand Prix of 2014 will forever be remembered for what happened on lap 44 but the
results of the race will still count. We can forget sometimes that Formula 1 is
dangerous and whilst you can work to minimise the degree of risk that drivers
are exposed to, you can never make it completely safe. It is 20 years since the
last driver race fatality – Ayrton Senna, the best driver of his generation –
but there have been some very near misses since then. So I decided to post my
blog as a record of a race with sadly very tragic undertones.
I blogged while watching the race ‘recorded but as if live’
(avoiding all news, spoilers and Twitter). Apologies if the tone seems irreverent
or flippant at times in light of later events. Like all F1 fans, I started
watching the race in a happy state of anticipation and sadly by the time it
ended we were all in a state of shock.
Thoughts and prayers are with Jules, his family, friends and the
Marussia team.
Back to the start.
Sorry about the lack of blogging (life has an annoying habit of
getting in the way – and also three little letters called ‘PTA’ and if you
don’t know what that means then lucky you) but wow Singapore hey? Who knew
Singapore could be SO exciting? Well that spiced things up nicely didn’t it. With
just four races to go until the Boom or Bust Finale in Abu Dhabi. In a highly
unusually prescient moment, I did say in my preview blog for Singapore that
Lewis Hamilton was less than a race win away and a DNF for Nico Rosberg from
leading the championship race. And guess what? Its game on. What a stupendously
exciting season this is proving to be.
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| Last time out, Hamilton triumphed in Singapore |
I am currently home alone with the 3 year old while the husband and
the 7 year old have trekked off to some rugby tournament in another county. I
actually got a comment yesterday from the husband "you are not a rugby mum are you". Erm let me think about that one.
No. So I have Sunday morning heaven of coffee and the Japanese Grand Prix in a
warm roasty toasty house.
Japanese GP races have been a little bit disappointing in recent
years but still I love Suzuka and am so looking forward to this race: (1) Japan
can give us epic races and has provided some of THE most dramatic and emotional
F1 moments ever, (2) Japanese F1 fans are absolutely brilliant and (3) clearly
it is all shades of exciting as the husband was frantically checking his phone
every 2 seconds for updates just before he left on rugby-martyr-watching duty
and he was only up to lap 26!
Apparently, we haven’t had ANY rain during a race so far this season or apparently had any rain during a race since
the 2012 Brazil GP. Blimey. If ever a season needed some rain it was the
Death-Defyingly Dull 2013 season. Puddles, rivers, reservoirs, oceans you name
it, the Suzuka track has got the water equivalent. So not surprisingly the race
is starting behind a safety car. I’m beginning to think I’m going to need something
much stronger than coffee to get through it.
Martin is very surprised the race wasn’t brought forward and said he
had a chat about it all with Charlie Whiting this morning. Charlie said the job
of the FIA is to monitor safety and all he can do is to assess whether its safe
to race at the times they are allocated.
Whoever is to blame then for not moving the race it is not Charlie. It is all down
to the Japanese organisers/promoters. Maybe they had their £££££ reasons hey.
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| The race gets underway behind the Safety Car |
It’s the first safety car start since Canada 2011 – and we all know
how that race turned out?! 4 hours of pure F1 gold. So we’re off, albeit very,
very, very slowly and already the drivers are struggling to get heat in their
brakes behind the safety car. I pity the poor safety car driver being sent out
in those conditions. When Vettel comes over the radio to report he is
aquaplaning you know things are horrendously difficult out there.
Just as Lewis comes on over the radio to say he can’t see Rosberg in
front of him the race is RED-FLAGGED. Maybe Charlie had a vision of the
apocalyptic fall-out if Lewis crashed into the back of Nico. So all the cars
are now parked in the pitlane and NOT the grid. The red flag came out before the
leader had completed 2 laps. So are we into half points territory yet? No one
seems to know. And Martin and Crofty are pouring all over the rule-book. I need
another coffee.
We have had an announcement that ‘tents are allowed in the pitlane’.
Ever tried to put up a gazebo in the rain? Hell on earth. But in a cram-packed
pitlane? Still F1 engineers are made of sturdy stuff. I always find these
random atypical moments in a race quite interesting – Christian Horner, Toto
Wolff and Eric Bouillier all chewing the cud. Presumably like me they are
dismayed that Mel B took Emma Bunton and not Geri along to the Judges Houses on
X Factor.
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| The most expensive campsite in the world |
Martin reads out to us the relevant provision – Article 41.2: If the
race is suspended during a Safety Car intervention and if the Safety Car is
directed into the pitlane, cars should stop in a line behind the Safety Car in
the fast lane of the pits. So what has happened is totally spot on. I love a good legal type clause. I know I know Saddo Klaxon. But GOOD NEWS we are going to get some racing very
shortly. The 3 year old has just looked up from her play-doh table and spotted Charlie Whiting on the TV and squealed “he’s not on
holiday any more”. Ain't that the truth. That’s what I call a stressful job.
And we are off. Behind the Safety Car. Again. And we have a new
Natural Hazard to contend with – the sun will set in around two hours and
Suzuka isn’t exactly awash with floodlights. Oh Alonso has suddenly stopped
with some electrical failure. Nooooooo. Bet he is thinking I won’t have to put
up with this crap next year at McLaren.
Holy cow it has actually stopped raining. Some of the drivers reckon
its time for intermediates. The Safety Car has been out for an eternity and
Martin is seriously unimpressed. But on lap 9 we are told that the Safety Car
is coming in at the end of this lap. Hallelujah!
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| And still the Safety Car leads the two Mercedes cars |
Lap 10 and we have real proper wheels-turning-in-anger racing! So to recap its 1. Rosberg, 2.
Hamilton, 3. Bottas, 4. Massa, 5. Ricciardo (who surely will be on the right
side of team orders today given Vettel’s defection next season to Another Team
Who Might Have Red Cars) and 6. Magnussen. Button has moved very early onto
inters and now a lot of the cars are starting to come in and whack on inters as
well. Lets hope there are no stray tent pegs lying around.
Button who was in 20th place a minute ago is now already
in 8th place. Clever old Jenson and McLaren hey! So who will get the
first pitstop nod at Mercedes? The race leader or the championship leader?
Vettel meanwhile has pitted and rejoined just ahead of Ricciardo – wonder how
long those positions will be maintained.
And its Rosberg who has got the pitstop nod. He slots back in 2nd
place which shows just what a whopping lead the Mercedes had already built up.
Button is now in 3rd place. Go Jenson! Right Lewis is now coming
into the pits…..drum roll please….. and its Rosberg who retakes the lead of the
Japanese Grand Prix.
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| Wet conditions, unpredictable conditions? Button is your man. |
Massa has now been passed by both Red Bulls and the next Williams to
be gobbled up by Vettel is Bottas. Vettel is now in 4th place and Ricciardo
not to be outdone pulls off an exquisite move to pass Bottas himself. And now Hamilton
is right on the back of Rosberg. Squeaky Bum Time to nick one of Sir Alex
Ferguson’s sayings.
Ferrari is having a torrid day. Kimi pits and has a problem with the
wheel gun and loses places to Kvyat, Bianchi and Ericsson. Dear god. And
Hamilton is now only 0.289 seconds behind his team-mate. The Red Bulls are the
fastest cars out on track, admittedly a VERY long way behind the two Mercedes
cars but still there are 28 laps to go. Hamilton is swarming all over the back
of Rosberg who is complaining of oversteer. Toto Wolff must be having heart
palpitations on the pit wall.
Hamilton is pushing and pushing and has just gone wide. Good to know
he is keeping it nice and steady as per his the team’s instructions! But he is
clearly so much quicker than Rosberg and to my surprise apparently he has never
won at Suzuka. Halfway order is 1. Rosberg, 2. Hamilton, 3. Button, 4. Vettel
and 5. Ricciardo.
And on lap 29, Lewis Hamilton takes the LEAD of the Japanese Grand
Prix after some very overly defensive driving from Rosberg. A defining moment
in the championship race? We shall see.
Button pits from 3rd on lap 32 and has to change his
steering wheel just like Magnussen (the McLaren electronics clearly like
rain about as much as Alonso's car) and unfortunately as a result loses his place to Vettel who pitted a
couple of laps earlier. Rosberg pits ahead of Hamilton who seems quite happy to
stay out. But Lewis then comes in on lap 36 meaning that Ricciardo (who has not
yet pitted again) leads the race.
A huge round of applause for Kevin Magnussen who unlaps himself by
passing Ricciardo in audacious style. Just sometimes he shows us exactly what
McLaren saw in him. Vettel is having a lively time out on track and Jenson
Button is now starting to play catch up. Can he snatch a podium with 14 laps to
go?
It is raining a lot more once again. And is it just me or does it
look very dark out there? Button is now embroiled in a full on battle with
Ricciardo and is using every ounce of his considerable guile and experience to
keep him at bay. For now. The rain is tippling down and DRS has been disabled
which is good news for Jenson. The 3 year old has just asked “is the red car winning?”. Bless. For
reasons I haven’t quite ascertained, Alonso is her favourite driver. Not that I
am questioning her excellent judgment but she might need to rethink her
allegiances next year. For her the redness of the car is pivotal.
In the ever deteriorating conditions, Sutil appears to have
emplanted his car into a barrier. Mad Gamble Alert. Jenson is now pitting for
FULL WETS. His call apparently. And it’s the return of the Safety Car. Oh dear a
medical car is out on track. Presumably for Sutil. And a stream of cars head
into the pits for new tyres. Poor old Jenson. He could not have timed that
pitstop any worse.
Martin has just said those awful words “something is not good up there” and then it went eerily quiet in
the commentary box. Feeling very, very worried now. They have just spotted
another car in that incident – the Marussia of Jules Bianchi. Oh how terrible.
Sutil is definitely ok but we don’t know anything else.
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| Poor Adrian Sutil looks on in horror at the scene of the crash |
There is now an ambulance out on track and on lap 46 the race has
been red-flagged. Because of the ambulance on track? Or the track conditions? Or
something worse? It is now so dark that surely the race won’t be restarted. No
news is being made public about Jules Bianchi’s condition but Ted just said there
was no response from Jules when the team radioed him.
The cars once again are all lined up in the pitlane. And I can’t
help but wonder what the drivers know or don’t know about Bianchi’s accident. I
am trying to push Imola thoughts out of my mind but it has that same terrible wall
of silence feeling about it. Perhaps I am just over-analysing but Martin,
Crofty and Ted sound very sombre – which of course is entirely understandable and
appropriate even if they don’t know much more than all of us sitting at home. But
I fear that they do know more than they are able to tell us.
We are told the race will not resume. Ted says its complete chaos in
the medical centre and the FIA’s press delegate is having to force open the
door to let in Bianchi’s team members and his manager (who is the son of the FIA president).
Lewis has won the race in what must be the strangest win of his race
career. It doesn’t seem at all important with the uncertainty as to Bianchi’s
condition but it finished: 1. Hamilton, 2. Rosberg, 3. Vettel, 4. Ricciardo and
5. Button.
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| A sombre Lewis Hamilton on the podium |
Rosberg has clearly just passed on an update to Hamilton in the Green
Room after speaking to Herbie Blash and a few moments later very quietly and
very discreetly Lewis does the sign of the cross. Every single F1 person looks shocked
and devastated. It has transpired that Bianchi's car hit water and
aquaplaned off at exactly the same spot where recovery vehicles were attending
Sutil’s car that had crashed the lap before. Bianchi suffered a severe head
injury and has been transported to hospital where he is now in surgery.
Such a desperately shocking and tragic end to the race.
Forza Jules.
