Whiting, the race director of nearly 20 years, travelled to Sochi yesterday to
prepare for the new event, and was telephoned by Todt to set up the critical
inquiry. He will study the telemetry from the crash, speak to stewards as
well as marshals, it is understood.
Questions raised by former drivers have largely centred on the recovery
tractor used, which Bianchi hit as it was removing Adrian Sutil’s stricken
Sauber. However, The Daily Telegraph understands that the same kind of
vehicle will be used in Sochi, due to the logistical difficulty in making
sudden changes, particularly as it is a new race. It is also thought that
the track layout – primarily confined in walls, with little run-off area –
means a situation similar to that in Suzuka should not arise.
Martin Brundle, the former F1 driver, queried the particular use of those
recovery vehicles. “My concern is those things on track,” he said. “I nearly
lost my life against one of them, just missed and hit a marshal. They are
just too high and you are sitting down low.”
His Sky F1 colleague, Anthony Davidson, said: “Procedures have to be looked
at. Perhaps, no diggers or vehicles on the track in extreme conditions? You
shouldn’t have recovery vehicles on the track.”
Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 world champion, said that he believed the safety
car should have been running. “The rules have to be changed concerning the
safety car,” Villeneuve told Autosport magazine. “When I was racing, and
afterwards, I was always saying that any time there is an accident there
should be a safety car. There should not be room for judgment. If someone
has to go out to pick up a car stranded on the track, it’s simple. Accident
– safety car, and that’s it. It should have been like that for years.
America has had that forever.”
Several drivers were also critical of the conditions in which the race was
run, claiming the darkness had been in a factor in Bianchi’s crash. Felipe
Massa, a friend of Bianchi, also said he had been “screaming” the stewards
to stop the race.
However, Max Mosley, the former FIA president who was instrumental in
improving safety in Formula One after the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland
Ratzenberger in 1994, described Bianchi’s as a “freak accident” and said
that the race officials had correctly followed procedures.
“What happened in Suzuka was very unfortunate – a freak accident – and I can’t
really fault any of the people involved, the marshals or the race director
or any of those people,” Mosley told Sky Sports. “Everything was done as it
should have been.”
In the aftermath of Bianchi’s crash, the issue of open cockpit racing has
resurfaced, as it did in the wake of Felipe Massa’s accident in qualifying
for the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009, when a suspension spring from another
car hit his helmet.
But for now the thoughts of the sport were with Bianchi. Executives from
Marussia and Ferrari – the Frenchman is on the Italian team’s young driver
programme – remain at the hospital. Professor Gerard Saillant, president of
the FIA medical commission and one of the world’s finest orthopaedic
surgeons, who also oversaw the initial treatment of former world champion
Michael Schumacher, flew out to Japan yesterday morning.
Bianchi, from Nice, has won many plaudits in his two seasons in Formula One.
He secured Marussia’s first ever points in Monaco in May, and is widely
regarded as a Ferrari driver of the future.
His girlfriend, Camille Marchetti, tweeted yesterday: “You are my champion!
You are the strongest.”
An FIA spokesman said: “The thoughts of the entire FIA Family are with Jules
Bianchi and his family.”