Think McNish's crash was bad..

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Think McNish's crash was bad, just check out this video of the F3 race before the F1 race. The driver in the crash touched the tyres of the car in front and what you see is the horrific result, which resulted in a very close call for a cameraman and the driver escaped with broken vertebrae.

Unbelievable F3 crash

[TotalF1-Nick 0]

It didn't work for me. Who was it that crashed?

Do you remember McNish's F3 crash? That was horriffic! Up there with Gregs Moores.

[nichosnz 0]

Johnny Herberts F3000 crash is directly attributed (by some) the be an explanation as to why he wasn't even better than he was. He turned both his legs into 'jelly', the fact he even made it to F1 makes his recovery amazing, let alone to win some races!

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I will be amazed if the driver in this video gets back to racing anytime soon, I mean just look at how many times he goes around!!!!

[rodders47 2]

well spare a thought for Mark Weber when driving the Mercedes sports car at I think Le-Mans !!! Went out in practise and the car summersaulted end over end, in his words he thought he was done for! then I think next day the same thing !!!!!

That has got to take REAL guts to even want to go near the thing !!!

[rodders47 2]

Hi Nichos, yes Johnny Herbert that was horrific, I was there at, correct me if I am wrong , but it was Brads Hatch right, coming down the hill, and well how anyone could have survived that crash is a great testimont to the structural strength of F3000/ F1 tubs.

Wen I was working at RALT in the UK we had a driver who had an accident down the main straight and in those days they had big bill board advertising signs a bit away from the track, anyway this driver, I think was Roberto Marino, will stand corrected there if I am wrong, left the track and completely demolished the advertising sign POSTS, made of large section RHS steel, driver walked away, tub still in one piece !!!!!

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Mark Webber flipping end over end at Le Mans was unbelievable, the car had some aerodynamic design problems and the video of it is something to watch, luckily he was not hurt as it was quite a hit!

Johnny Herbert surviving was also a miracle in itself, I saw the video for the first time last year and immediately wondered how he still had an F1 career.

[nichosnz 0]

Yes Rod it was at Brands Hatch.

Didn't Mercedes withdraw from that race after Webbers 2nd (the teams 3rd) flip in a short space of time.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea I believe so, like Minardi pulled out of the Spanish GP this year. But Mercedes pulled out for good reason, it was a miracle that he survived after landing in the forest..

[nichosnz 0]

Did Mercedes design the car upside down, they are supposed to do the opposite of flying. lol

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Or then Mercedes have another attitude to racing than others, "We dont drive real fast, we just fly real low!"

[nichosnz 0]

Either way it is ammusing it happened several times.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

In a way it was amusing, but think of what could have happened. It luckily did not flip straight into a grandstand (this is by the way where I got part of the inspiration for my thread in the Cafe, other was the crash in the 60's at Monza where 82 spectators lost their lives when a car flipped into the grandstands).

[nichosnz 0]

Oh yes I took the fact the no lives were lost, or serious injuries incurred, into consideration before making that statement.

[DJC-Grafix 0]

i dont recall Mark Webbers crash, any links to pics???

but if its the same Merc that fliiped at Lemans in 1999, i know the car,

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

Yea same car, Webber was the driver of that Merc.

[DJC-Grafix 0]

ah yes, looking at pics today i saw Webbers helmet, as he climbed out.

[December 0]

the horrific crash at Australia's Indy on sunday certainly caused quite a stir. An 8 car pile up on the straight just after the start. 2 cars went flying, with one somersaulting repeatedly while bouncing over other cars.

Remarkably only two drivers were slightly hurt, and released from hospital that SAME day!

The other 6 ran back to their spare cars to await the restart!

Maybe that's why these cars are so damn expensive? Because they are so damn sturdy??? LOL

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

That is really a big part of the reason, because a carbon fibre monocoque and all the composites they use in the chassis are simply so damn expensive to make! But they are very, very sturdy and lightweight at the same time. Definitely the safety changes in motorsport have been for the best, but you can argue against it that maybe they are too safe.

Too safe? You ask me and I would tell you that Allan (McNish) could be in pretty bad condition right now, even Juan Pablo Montoya would not be in good shape after that seemingly 'minor shunt' at Friday practice for Suzuka. That shunt could have hurt a lot in years past. Same with incidents this year involving Fisichella, Nick Heidfeld and Takuma Sato at Austria (ouch!), and not to even mention Luciano Burti last year at Spa.

[nichosnz 0]

Yes I saw a graph on that recently (Autosport I think) that shows that in F1 injuries and deaths have dropped, yet 'huge' accidents have very dramatically increased. The figures seemed directly related to the increases in saftey. The safer it get the more 'on the line' the drivers put it.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

It gives them a sense of security, which can at times be a false sense of security. But definitely it allows them to push harder, knowing they probably wont end up killing themselves because of it.

[nichosnz 0]

It pays off, not to push over the edge though, just ask 5 times world champion Michael Schumacher and 2 times world champion Mika Hakkinen. Both have quite low crash rates, and don't give the load of bollacks about MS being a crash prone driver.

Sure there have been some high profile ones, Adelaide 1994, Nurburgring and Jerez 1997, Spa 1998, Silverstone 1999, Germany 2001. But these high profile ones are a large percentage of his total crashes.

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

I think most of the retirements for those two are mechanical problems. Last time I remember Hakkinen actually making a mistake that cost him was San Marino 1999. But I may be mistaken..

[nichosnz 0]

Italy of 1999, he grabbed the downshift paddle one too many times, that is why he was so upset, a silly error?

[TotalF1 Jens 0]

How could I forget, crying in the bushes Everyone is human...

Funny though, such a mistake could not be made now with all the automatic transmissions and traction control, just goes to show how recently we had real cars in F1. Shifting down one gear too many, spinning the rear, is now a thing of the past - sadly.