F1 2014 Season

[TeaLeaf]

Details were released, Bianchi suffered a 'diffuse axonal injury' (DAI).  This is a 'generalised' brain injury rather than a localised one and is most often associated with rapid acceleration or deceleration of the head.   A result of the injury is that the connective nerve axons are often ripped apart.   Additional damage can be caused by tissue-shearing under the extreme force of the de/acceleration.  It's your basic 'squished brain in a skull' problem.

Everything I read about DAI sounds nasty.  This is what brainandspinalcord.org says about the prognosis for DAI victims:

Prognosis of Diffuse Axonal Injury
It is thought that diffuse axonal injury can occur in just about every level of severity, with concussion thought to be one of the milder forms. In mild to moderate forms of diffuse axonal injury, recovery is possible, with the mildest forms of diffuse axonal injury often resulting in few if any long-term issues.

About 90% of survivors with severe diffuse axonal injury remain unconscious. The 10% that regain consciousness are often severely impaired.

AFAIAA the press release does not say if this is 'severe' or 'moderate/mild', but having seen the crash I cannot see any possibility of it being anything less than severe - and that scares the heck out of me for Jules and his family.   Fingers, toes and everything else is crossed for Jules' recovery.

[Snokio]

Sounds like his injury was then not sustained as a result of a direct impact / blow to the head which in itself good news I suppose (and had feared happened)

[TeaLeaf]

It's impossible to tell for sure, but:

-from the video the car appeared to be heading straight (not sliding sideways), so it might be that the left side of the car was ripped off by the impact with the rear of the tactor as it passed by en route to a head-on collision with the barrier.   This might account for the sight of two crushed wheels under the rear of the traktor. The deceleration would be when he hit the barrier beyond the tractor.

-why was he heading straight on without any rotational speed?   If he aquaplaned on a corner surely he would have been rotating as he headed towards the tractor?   And why was he going so fast?

That last bit only struck me today, he was defintely appearing to be going straight in the video, although it was really difficult to be certain as it was side on and low resolution.   The speed aspect seems to suggest possible mechanical failure though.

[TeaLeaf]

It's looking like it is going to be a highly exciting end to the F1 season.

Three races left:
   USA
Brazil
Abu Dhabi (double points)

Lewis Hamilton   291
Nico Rosberg   274

1st : 25 points
2nd : 18 points
3rd : 15 points
4th : 12 points
5th : 10 points
6th : 8 points
7th : 6 points
8th : 4 points
9th : 2 points
10th : 1 point

So, possibilities for the last three races?   With 50 points available for the race win in Abu Dhabi (and 100 points across the three remaining F1 races) it could get interesting.

In order to make the double points irrelevant Hamilton would need a 51 point lead over Rosberg before the Abu Dhabi, but Hamilton cannot win the Championship in the USA as there would still be 75 points from the remaining races and a maximum lead over Rosberg of 42 points.

Massive number of permutations on this, but my huge fear is that the 2014 F1 World Driver's Championship is going to be decided by either a reliability issue, or someone else driving into Hamilton/Rosberg and wrecking their race.   I sincerely hope we get the racing, not the reliability problem or the crash.

If Rosberg finishes 5th or better in the US Grand Prix then the Championship goes to Abu Dhabi and Brazil becomes irrelevant.

[JonnyAppleSeed]

If Rosberg finishes 5th or better in the US Grand Prix then the Championship goes to Abu Dhabi and Brazil becomes irrelevant

Another reason why the double points are so bad.

[TeaLeaf]

I have no idea why that sentence got left in the post.  It was half a mathematical thought and on its own is wrong (just like double points).

Sorry! :blush:

[Snokio]

Marussia to miss US GP and possibly Brazil due to struggling financially and Caterham in administration will also miss US and Brazil GP

Sad news for both teams, really like Caterham and Marussia are expecting ££ due to Jules ninth position in Monaco (don't think Sauber have scored yet IIRC?)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29770496

[OldBloke]

The Yanks are not going to be happy. F1 still has bridges to mend there after the 2005 fiasco.

[TeaLeaf]

With the US Grand Prix kicking off later today, I'm revisiting the nightmare scenarios that are possible in this year's Driver's Championship and thought we should remind ourselves of the points situation and the 'fairness' situation.

• There are just 3 Grand Prix left: US, Brazil and Abu Dhabi
• Abu Dhabi has 'double points' this year, thanks to another blinding idea from Bernie. :doh:
• Hamilton leads the Championship by 17 points.
• Hamilton has won 9 races so far this year, Rosberg just 4.
• Hamilton has retired from 3 races due to mechanical failure, Rosberg has retired from only 2 races.
• If Hamilton wins the US and Brazil Grand Prix with Rosberg second in each, then Hamiltons lead will be 32 points.
• The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix has 50 points available for the winner.
• If Rosberg retires from the race at either US or Brazil and Lewis wins both races, then Rosberg could still afford to come second in the other and still win the Championship by winnning Abu Dhabi.
• If Hamilton wins the US Grand Prix and Rosberg is second then the Brazil Grand Prix becomes utterly irrelevant to the Championship.
• Potentially, if Hamilton won the US & Brazil Grand Prix, and Rosberg won Abu Dhabi, you could have a German F1 World Champion who won just 5 races during the year and a British runner-up who won 11 races but still lost the Championship.  That's just plain wrong.

It strikes me that dear old Bernie 'not quite there anymore' Ecclestone, in his attempt to not make Brazil (the usual last race of the year) irrelevant, has managed to precisely that.  

It is clearly ridiculous that the Brazil Grand Prix could be not even worth running.   In that event and in order to reduce potential grid penalties for power unit failures, would Mercedes bother running their cars AT ALL at the Brazil Grand Prix?  Why not turn the revs and power right down, do a single lap and then retire in order to keep your car in the best possible shape for the 'double bonanza' Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?

Bah, it makes me mad to think that a retirement or being hit by another driver could settle this year's F1 Driver Championship. :angry:

Bernie has to go.  To a home.

PS:
The icing on the cake is that not only are we 4 cars down for the US Grand Prix, we'll be 5 cars down for Qualifying if, as is strongly rumoured, Vettel doesn't bother to qualify at all and opts to start from the pit lane in order to take the power unit penalty in one hit and minimise the stress on the power unit which has to last the next 3 Grand Prix.  So Bernie's rules also encourage you to not bother qualifying.   Something needs to change.

[TeaLeaf]

A nice article summarising the remaining ways of winning or losing the F1 Driver's Championship, including a comparison with a normal single points Abu Dhabi.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/11/10/2014-brazilian-grand-prix-stats-facts/

The TLDR double points version:

Under Double Points, for Hamilton to win the Championship if Rosberg finishes:
1st then Hamilton has to finish 2nd
2nd then Hamilton has to finish 5th or better
3rd then Hamilton has to finish 6th or better
4th then Hamilton has to finish 8th or better
5th then Hamilton has to finish 9th or better
Hamilton wins whatever happens if Rosberg does not finish in the top 5 places

The hypothetical version: (also applies if the race is stopped before 75% distance as then only half points applies)

If Abu Dhabi were a normal single points race, then for Hamilton to win the Championship if Rosberg finishes:
1st then Hamilton has to finish 6th or better
2nd then Hamilton has to finish 10th or better
Hamilton would win whatever happened if Rosberg did not finish in the top 2 places

That's a massive difference in pressure on the last race, because I can't see the Abu Dhabi race being red-flagged for rain or snow. :sad:

[smilodon]

F1 is broken by design at the moment, but on the bright side Bernie Ecklestone is very old now, retirement and/or a care home must be on the cards soon. Then things can get back to normal.

[Snokio]

Dont like Bernie to much, especially when he said he didnt like caterham 'begging'
It will be a 1.2 merc unless reliability becomes a factor (doubt it will rain lol)

[TeaLeaf]

If you are near the Silverstone circuit tomorrow (Friday) you might want to drop in and sneak a peek at McLaren's new Honda-powered MP4-29H development car.  Honda have confirmed that the car will be running for a 'filming day' on demonstration tyres, but it will be invaluable as a shake-down for the new connections, systems and most important of all, the new Honda power unit.

The 2015 McLaren F1 car can't be run until after the Abu Dhabi test days following the grand prix, so this is much needed bonus mileage for Honda & McLaren's new partnership.

[Snokio]

Lets hope they keep Button!

[Snokio]

Caterham will be racing come this weekend, although they lost Ericsson and doubt they will be able to progress at all. Sad day for F1 as I doubt we will see Murussia or Caterham next year, can't help but feel the same fate for suber to

But as long as Bernie continues to get his Billions and pass comment on how they run their 'business' nothing matters! Is there any 'pure' sports these days where turnover / profit isn't priority?