Formula 1: Suzuka GP Preview

Man, what a freaking dark day for racing

I actually feel for him. I always thought he was a decent guy—even if he wasn't cutting it in a top-tier NASCAR team during my viewing years. I remember being a kid, racing around the living room rug with my NASCAR cards, and he’d be the one constantly crashing out first. 😁

vividlynx68 said:Man, I actually feel for him. He was always a cool guy, even if he wasn't tearing it up in a top-tier team while I was watching NASCAR. I remember being a kid, racing around the living room carpet with my NASCAR toy karts, and he’d just constantly wreck himself 😁

I had this sticker album covering the '86 season—though there were some from '85 too—so one side had a whole set of maybe 4 or 5 stickers showing his crash in Austria back in '85

And on the driver portrait pages, his face somehow ended up where Philippe Alliot’s should have been. Either I just messed up the sticker or what? Who knows. But long story short, for at least four or five years, I was totally convinced that was Philippe Alliot

I never even got a Mansell sticker—so I just had to imagine what he looked like. Pretty sure the first time I actually saw his face was in '89. Before that, I just saw him in the car. I knew what his helmet looked like since I had that sticker, but the face? Pure imagination.

That '86 album was basically my Bible.

Then someone tossed it in the trash. No clue who—probably my mom. I swear I searched my parents' house a hundred times trying to find it, nothing. Honestly, I'd drop a thousand bucks right now just to get it back.

Man, Joe, that's just... wow. 🙂 I'd honestly love to be able to track down that album for you right about now... 😁

I'm really hoping Bianchi pulls through this one 🙂

Drew Bennett68 said:Andrea de Cesaris died.

RIP 😢

gentlecobra23 said:Plus, an excavator is way cheaper than a crane—and way easier to move around. We live in a world run by bottom lines, so obviously the cheapest route is the only one that makes sense.

but you're out here studying some obscure degree

Except that "cheap" and "NASCAR" aren't even in the same universe.

ruggedhawk20 said:but you're studying at one of those esoteric colleges

Except that "cheap" and "NASCAR" don't exactly belong in the same sentence...

saving money touches every single part of life

Didn't someone here mention how they pay judges? That’s just another form of cutting costs...

And who do you think are the biggest cheapskates? The ones who actually have the money...

gentlecobra23 said:Didn't someone here say they actually pay the judges? I mean—what else is that if not smart budgeting?

It’s just tradition—nothing more, nothing less.

That was me writing—not some random guy.

plus, what kind of "saving" is that if you end up footing a million-dollar bill at the end of the day

is this how airlines cut corners too, maybe?

I’m dying to know which college you go to—honestly, this level of logic is such a rare find, I really need to know which school teaches people to think like this

was it political science?

mellowtiger83 said:Insane video—gave me actual chills.

How the hell did he reach the excavator that fast?? There’s sand everywhere, braking before the turn, etc.—WTF.

It's not sand, it's gravel

And honestly, it isn't even gravel—it's an asphalt road.

That’s right, Joža Zagorec is spot on. Or, to put it more plainly, he's someone who always keeps things tidy and covers all his bases.

Anything else to add??

mellowtiger83 said:Exactly—Joe Zagorec hit the nail on the head there. Everything fits perfectly.

Anything else??

Look, if we're talking about asphalt and his tires started sliding all over the place, obviously he didn't slow down. It's just common sense.

ruggedhawk20 said:Well, if we are talking about an asphalt track and his tires lost grip on the pavement, it is perfectly obvious that there was no deceleration occurring.

Brakes??? I have no idea how long that runoff area actually is, but it looks incredibly short. It seems to me he couldn't have slowed down, almost as if he gained speed right before the incident.

Going from 218 miles/h to roughly 37 miles/h in NASCAR requires about 130-150 meters of hard braking. In that specific turn where he went wide, wasn't Sutil approaching at around 124 miles/h??

Sutil had a minor, completely harmless excursion, just lightly brushing the barrier. Bianchi, however, flew off in the opposite direction like a bullet straight into that excavator. I simply don't understand it.

Am I really the only one who noticed this??

mellowtiger83 said:Brakes??? I honestly don't know how long that runoff area actually is—it looks incredibly short to me. It feels like he didn't even have the chance to scrub off enough speed; almost as if he caught a bit of air or lost grip right before hitting the brakes.

Sa 218 milesI honestly can’t wrap my head around how some people expect anything to happen when they approach things this way—it’s just fundamentally flawed from the jump. It's like trying to run a marathon in flip-flops; you might get a few blocks in, but the inevitable failure is practically baked into the plan. You have to look at the actual mechanics of the situation, not just the surface-level assumptions everyone keeps pushing. If you don't account for the underlying variables, you're essentially just waiting for the whole thing to fall apart. 37 milesIn NASCAR, you’re looking at roughly 430 to 500 feet of full braking distance—it's a massive amount of space. In that specific corner where he lost control and flew off, Sutil was already closing in right behind him at about... 124 milesI’m sorry, I didn't quite catch that—are you asking if this is a joke, or maybe checking my tone? If you're looking for a specific take on something, just lay it out. I prefer to get straight to the point without all the fluff.

Sutil went off slightly before him—totally harmless, really—just a light tap against the barrier. But Bianchi? He shot off in the complete opposite direction, like a bullet straight toward that excavator. I honestly don't get it.

Was I really the only one who caught that?

Not at all.

It’s like he didn't even touch the brakes—or if he did, he waited way too long to actually start slowing down.
It looked like he completely lost his grip on the car—just a split-second blink before disaster strikes, and somehow, he managed to dodge the worst of it.
I’m just not following—I don't quite get it.

graniteharbor502 said:🙂

What’s your take on this? Give us the breakdown. 🙏

mellowtiger83 said:Brakes???—idk how long that runoff area actually is, looks way too short to me—feels like he just couldn't slow down, almost like he caught air right before that.

Sa 218 miles/h how much? 37 milesIn NASCAR, you need about 130 to 150 meters of hard braking—so when he flies right off that turn and Sutil comes charging up behind him at... 124 miles/h??

Sutil just drifted off slightly before him—totally harmless, just a light tap against the barrier—but then Bianchi flies off like a damn bullet straight into that excavator. I don't get it??

Was it just me, or did anyone else catch that?

Brakes are basically useless once you lock up the wheels—not that anyone noticed the rain falling out there.

Aquaplaning was...

ruggedhawk20 said:Brakes become completely useless once the wheels lock up. It was raining, if you hadn't noticed.

I don't see any smoke from the wheel lock-ups anywhere. There should have been a fair amount of smoke if the wheels were actually seizing, even with a wet track, right?

Why was Sutil's exit at that exact same spot so much easier and at a significantly lower speed?

Where are all the accident replays?

And where is the onboard footage? I'm certain it exists. A car like that has to have multiple cameras installed; the regulations basically mandate it.

vividlynx68 said:It was Akvaplaning...

Or whatever.

The point is the same—brakes are basically useless in those conditions.

It’s like being tossed out of a plane with your car and slamming the brakes hoping for a miracle stop.

Brakes only work sometimes—like, really rarely. One condition is that the wheels actually have to be spinning and there needs to be friction between the tire and the road. Once you lose either one of those? The brakes are dead weight.

ruggedhawk20 said:it's just tradition

And I’m the one who wrote it, not some random person

Lovely traditions... then people act surprised when everything falls apart because we were waving the wrong flags. If they actually waved them, I wouldn't even bother arguing

Personally, I have zero motivation to work if I can't see a clear benefit in the moment or down the road... unless it's something absolutely essential to my life

ruggedhawk20 said:besides, what kind of "saving" is that if you end up paying out millions in damages in the end?

Is this how airlines handle their budget too, maybe?

I am genuinely dying to know which college you attend—this way of thinking is such a rarity, I'm truly curious where this logic is taught

Was it political science?

Well, everywhere you look, people cut corners assuming nothing will ever go wrong. And when it does, they just head to court to dodge the bill. It's as simple as that. Or they settle out of court. Someone, somewhere, figured out the math makes sense that way...

It wasn't political science

I don't know what's bothering you, but they teach me to forecast outcomes based on specific variables. If you're cutting costs, you do it for a reason. If you make an investment, you know when it pays off. When you have employees making stupid mistakes, you prevent them from doing so so the government doesn't penalize you for safety violations... It's about forecasting. Predicting what happens over a certain timeframe. What happened with Bianchi wasn't forecasted, and even if the odds of a crash like that were minimal, they were still there...

Airlines... I'll just mention one former manufacturer, McDonnell Douglas
Where did they cut corners? On the doors. Those damn doors. What does a plane need doors for? So much for saving money