The Japanese Grand Prix came to an early end following a serious crash involving Jules Bianchi.
The Marussia driver went off at the Dunlop Curve where Adrian Sutil had crashed moments earlier.
FIA press officer Matteo Bonciani confirmed Bianchi was not conscious and had been taken to hospital by ambulance with a police escort.
Sutil said Bianchi’s car struck the crane which had been sent to recover his Sauber.
The race was red-flagged on lap 46. Conditions had been wet throughout, and the first attempt to start the race was abandoned after two laps behind the Safety Car due to heavy rain. It was eventually started after a further eight laps behind the Safety Car.
Update: Further details about Bianchi’s condition
2014 Japanese Grand Prix
- Bianchi’s fight for life ends nine months after Japanese Grand Prix crash
- Streiff’s comments on Bianchi crash investigation prompts legal action from FIA
- No improvement in Bianchi’s condition
- FIA plans changes after Bianchi crash but report says his speed was to blame
- Bianchi returns to France but condition still “critical”
Image © Marussia
Broke84 (@broke84)
5th October 2014, 9:20
Really horrible, I really hope he is ok.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 9:20
I’m horrified that the race was happily going on despite the fact that the helicopter could not fly.
PeterG
5th October 2014, 9:22
There is a provision in the regulations that they don’t requite a helicopter providing a hospital can be reached via road/police escort within a set time.
ACx
5th October 2014, 9:23
Surely less than 40 mins?
goondu86 (@goondu86)
5th October 2014, 9:25
That’s the reason why the Singapore GP does not need any medevac helicopter, the nearest hospital is around 20 minutes away in normal traffic without any police escorts/road closures.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 9:40
So all those times when practice is delayed while we wait for rain/fog to clear “so that the medical helicopter can fly”…
But the race can go ahead regardless
ACx
5th October 2014, 9:50
Apparently it turns out the heli was there and available. Using an ambulance was a choice, Im guessing on medical grounds.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 9:52
Yeah, Ted said… See below
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
5th October 2014, 9:27
I was under the impression that they got rid of all of sid’s old team who were still operating to sid’s standard once sid had died
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
5th October 2014, 9:31
@eurobrun me too. I thought that wasn’t authorized by the rules.
Jimbo
5th October 2014, 9:33
Bianci was airlifted to hospital and he was unconscious as far as I know.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 9:48
Ted on Sky says that the helicopter could indeed have been used and subsequently took off…
jkorz
5th October 2014, 9:53
He like a lot of people at the moment was speculating, they saw the helicopter take off after Bianchi left in an ambulance.. Who’s to say conditions were not suitable when they had to make the decision, we have seen how quickly they can worsen or improve..
monkey Man
5th October 2014, 10:07
Yes but you can’t criticise for the race taking place when the helicopter couldn’t fly (which isn’t a requirement in the rules) , when it did ( ted reported it, ant saw it), and then criticise that it might have at the time, not all the facts are available at the moment, as Brunel said, it could have been medical reasons (head injury and air pressure) it could be that the hospital they wanted to take him to do didn’t have a pad … Let’s hang them when we have the rope (facts) before is just speculation
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
5th October 2014, 10:19
There are possible meteorological or medical reasons not to use the helicopter. There’s no point speculating about it at this stage.
Mashiat (@mashiat)
5th October 2014, 9:20
I do hope that Jules Bianchi is OK. It must’ve been a horrific crash. But regarding the race, great race by Hamilton, disappointed to see Ferrari’s point streak finally end, but the main concern is of course Jules Bianchi. Get well soon! Every F1 fan is with you. But this shows the period and time in F1 when everybody is united. Seeing the drivers respecting Jules’ incident really shows the best side of F1
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
5th October 2014, 9:20
Still think it is better to leave cars on the track than have tractors out there. What happened to all the cranes they used to have? Too expensive I guess.
PeterG
5th October 2014, 9:23
They still have them but there isn’t the room to have them in some places.
At the place the accident happened there is no room for a crane because you have 130R the other side of the barrier & on the other side of the track is a grass bank.
Jarnooo (@jarnooo)
5th October 2014, 9:28
I agree. At least in tricky conditions, since the chances of someone heading off straight to the same spot is much higher.
manu
5th October 2014, 9:38
It doesn’t matter, in this case the race should have been stopped or at least the safety car should have come out early. If there is a crane as you say, you still need marshals to connect the cables to the car, if there is no tractor then those people are in danger of being hit as well. There were marshals there and they got a bit lucky they didn’t get hit. With less than 10 laps to go I don’t know why F1 put itself in that situation.
Luis Licona
5th October 2014, 9:52
Actually a Marshall had in fact been injured but wasn´t severe, he walked away from the medical área feeling well
Loko
5th October 2014, 10:11
Which kind of crane could cover that run off area? It works on street circuits and some places but area on Esses is just way too large for crane.
I dont understand why Charlie Whiting takes these kind of risks. It wasnt first time this season when he creates this kind of situation when marshalls are working on really dangerous spot without safety car. F1 really have to rethink safety car rules if they are so afraid to use it that putting lifes in danger is better option :-S
Code 60 ftw..
ACx
5th October 2014, 9:20
Ambulance? Wasn’t there a time when a race could not start if a medical helicopter couldn’t operate?
goondu86 (@goondu86)
5th October 2014, 9:21
It’s actually rather disturbing, given the lack of updates.
JCost (@jcost)
5th October 2014, 12:07
@goondu86 the pictures of the scene are disturbing and lack of info does fuel anxiousness.
http://motor.as.com/motor/2014/10/05/album/1412499929_305416.html#1412499929_305416_1412502851
Frech newspaper L’Equipe is reporting that Bianchi has undergone a head surgery (source: Jules’ father) and Mika Salo has said the Frech driver “got a hard hit into his head”.
Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
5th October 2014, 9:21
Horrible. I see Gary Hardstein in all sorts of panic on Twitter now.
former_f1doc: The rapidity of the helicopter evac is extremely worrying. About as worried as i can be about what the hospital is going to announce.
former_f1doc: Only reasons to evac this fast are isolated severe head injury, severe hemorrhagic shock, or need for ongoing CPR.
jkorz
5th October 2014, 9:56
Gary Hardstein is the last person I would be looking to for information. . .
Paul (@frankjaeger)
5th October 2014, 10:18
Is that the guy who so disrespectfully alludes to Schumacher’s condition, hospital treatment and family’s decision?
If so, I don’t want to hear anything he’s got to say. He thinks he knows everything
Robert (@gicu)
5th October 2014, 9:21
Ted Kravitz saying he’ll be transported to the nearest big hospital in Nagoya, 40ish minutes away by car. That’s a lot, I hope he’ll be ok.
Formula-I (@)
5th October 2014, 9:21
What happened.
Nicholas Sylvain (@heartbreakridge)
5th October 2014, 9:22
Bianchi collided with the recovery vehicle that was dealing with Sutil’s car
Paul2013
5th October 2014, 9:21
I really wish Bianchi will be ok BUT THE race was awful, how is possible to race if The medical helicopter can not fly?
dan
5th October 2014, 9:26
Im sure that is because Ham won, the race was far from awful dude. Hamilton was great this race what an overtake. Ric with great passes Vet aswell. You did not like the race because Alo did not finish as we saw you’re silly stuff yesterday about him taking over from LH
Mashiat (@mashiat)
5th October 2014, 9:29
@dan C’mon, in a time like this, F1 should really be united, no matter who we support. Don’t ruin that please.
Paul2013
5th October 2014, 9:30
It was awful because there was not RACE start, because there were two safety cars, The 1st one has no sense, because there were two red flags, because there was a serious accident, because The med helicopter COULD not fly, because more than a quarter of The RACE they were driving following a safety car… Do YOU need more reassons?
@HoHum (@hohum)
5th October 2014, 9:58
The helicopter could and did fly, road was considered a better choice. Yes, as in Canada the safety car delayed the re-start far to long.
Paul2013
5th October 2014, 10:03
I watched on TV The helicopter parked at The medical center. They started to prepare it and they aborted. The news at that time were it could not fly Bianchi to the hospital at the time, i do not know if time after that it did fly or not.
Oli (@dh1996)
5th October 2014, 9:33
Paul is absolutely right. This whole weekend was an example of poorly executed organisation. Not that it matters right now though.
alanore (@alanore)
5th October 2014, 9:47
Our thoughts should be with Jules, not making wild insinuation
The F1 master
5th October 2014, 10:07
Beacuse the weather was bad, and It was possible they to crash the helicopter,and they choose to not risk.I agree with them
Bobby Balboa (@bobby-balboa)
5th October 2014, 9:22
Not the time to point fingers. Easy to blame after the incident. Thoughts are with Bianci, his family & his team until we know his condition
Hedger
5th October 2014, 9:22
Best of luck to jules. Puts race into perspective.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
5th October 2014, 9:22
Fell asleep and only watched the last 5 minutes. Dizzy as I am right now, I’m seriously worried about Jules… Hopes and prayers he is okay…
Come on Jules !
Mashiat (@mashiat)
5th October 2014, 9:22
It’s so sad to see that on the one day that the helicopter is unable to fly, something like this happens. I hope this teaches a lesson to all those fans who want to ignore safety, like at the beginning of the British GP
Himmat
5th October 2014, 9:23
Hopefully Jules is OK. But I’ve seen some photos and the car looks wrecked. Sutil says that Bianchi hit the tractor sideways (According to AFDaCosta on Twitter).
I maintain that it was the fault of the tractor…cars were spinning off. Best to have just left the Sauber there…no harm. Or if it needed to be removed, then safety car (which would have ended the race pretty much anyways). A marshal was more likely to get hit…and sadly an accident did happen but it involved an F1 driver.
Patrick (@paeschli)
5th October 2014, 9:27
I don’t understand why there wasn’t a safety car after Sutil had crashed. The conditions were OK in my opinion but you can’t leave a car in such a dangerous place.
Often they put the SC out for nothing and here they choose to let the race go on. I don’t understand it.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 9:42
See Germany 2014… no safety car. we were lucky then. no lessons learned.
Mariano (@mariano)
5th October 2014, 9:46
+ 1
I agree 100% with you. As soon as I saw Sutil crashing I thought that the SC was going to be deployed inmediately but unfortunately it didn’t. I’m really upset about it.
jkorz
5th October 2014, 10:02
+1 also I immediately thought of the Germany non safety car incident and other questionable decisions Charlie whiting has made this season.
He used to have a SC trigger finger, seems to try and lean more towards entertainment recently and then is seen on TV describing Bianchi’s crash with his palm and fist before podium.
Unforgivable
@HoHum (@hohum)
5th October 2014, 10:01
Well yellow flags are supposed to slow drivers to a safe speed.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th October 2014, 10:07
Yes, but even then you can aquaplane at low speeds. Ericsson went off behind the safety car.
The F1 master
5th October 2014, 10:12
The car was under the machine , I hope its not like Canada last year *F1 fans will remember that horrible mistake*
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
5th October 2014, 9:23
They could have raced yesterday, but Honda didn’t wanted it.
The race was really good up to what happened to Jules.
RogerA
5th October 2014, 9:26
“They could have raced yesterday, but Honda didn’t wanted it.”
And had fans who had brought tickets unable to attend? Not everyone who has race tickets will also have tickets for Saturday & with most fans going to Suzuka via public transport you have issues there to consider with fans having brought tickets to get to/leave the circuit at a set time.
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
5th October 2014, 9:33
Yes, i know it. But they could raced earlier at least.
Alonson1
5th October 2014, 9:38
Dude it went perfect if Jules is fine they done a good job in the end really. We done a lot of laps.
falken (@falken)
5th October 2014, 9:50
And had no one in Europe seen it ? Not even Bernie that mad.
timi (@timi)
5th October 2014, 10:37
It’s naive to say “But they could read earlier at least”. To do so they’d have to agree the new time with every one of their broadcast partners.. many of whom would have been unable to air it at the new time due to contractual obligations with other programmes. Next we go to viewership. A change in race start time so late-on would have dramatically decreased viewing numbers. If we combine the two, it would result in FIA paying a tonne of money to broadcasters to change their schedules, as well as the FIA receiving less money for the race due to way less viewers.
It’s not hard to grasp, and is one of the reasons we raced in South Africa under apartheid, and Bahrain amidst human rights protests. If you’ve worked for one multinational co. you’ve worked for 90% of them. If there isn’t a business case (i.e. will it make us money), it won’t be done. Never mind if its actually a change that will make them lose money.
So yes, they could have changed the time. But without a good 3-7 days notice it would, and will, never happen.
Sri Harsha (@harsha)
5th October 2014, 9:24
Hoping for Jules to be Ok , all my prayers for him
Breno (@austus)
5th October 2014, 9:25
That was horrible. Even with a SC this kind of accidents can happen, FIA really should enforce a slow-zone in the accident location.
Breno (@austus)
5th October 2014, 9:26
OF course, my thoughts are with Bianchi and those around him.
Marc Thielke (@motor)
5th October 2014, 9:30
I think there were double yellows before the SC came out for that corner.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th October 2014, 10:07
Yes, I think they have to act. You can’t rely on racing drivers to slow down, they’re nuts.
Look at Kimi’s 1st-lap crash at Silverstone, completely avoidable.
It’s early days with slow zones (just Dubai & Le Mans 24h so far, I think) but they seem to work, the technology’s there, and it may solve the problem of endless safety-cars and unlapping as well.
Formula-I (@)
5th October 2014, 9:25
I really hope the best for Jules, all my pray are for him and hopefully he will be racing again
skywalker