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FIA releases more details of Bianchi accident
More details surrounding Jules Bianchi's accident at the Japanese Grand Prix were released by the FIA on Friday during a press conference at the Russian Grand Prix.
FIA president Jean Todt, race director Charlie Whiting, chief medical officer Jean-Charles Piette and medical rescue co-ordinator Ian Roberts all took part in the press conference to answer questions about the accident and the procedures taken by the FIA subsequently. CCTV video clips from Turn 7 at Suzuka were shown to the media of Adrian Sutil's accident the lap before, which brought out the recovery vehicle that Bianchi hit, and Bianchi's accident itself.
Whiting talked through the footage to offer an explanation of how both Sutil and Bianchi lost control of their cars in worsening conditions.
"There is a dryish line [in Turn 7], but as the rain is intensifying a little bit of water crept on to the drier line," Whiting explained. "As cars go a little bit wide there, you see Adrian got onto that and lost control. He just touches that slightly wetter part of track, and he is behind Jules at this point. At that point he hits that slightly wetter bit of track and loses control and spins."
A lap later the footage shows Bianchi losing control and hitting the recovery vehicle.
"You can see Jules doing something similar [to Sutil]. He hits the same bit of water, but he doesn't spin like Adrian did. He over corrects and goes off at a slightly different trajectory."
Whiting said some cars slowed down more than others under the double waved yellow flags, something he wants to address with potential changes in the future.
"A lot of cars came through the double waved yellow sector. There were some that didn't slow down much and there were some that slowed down a lot. I don't think we need to go into the details of how much he slowed down compared to others, suffice that we do have that data and he did slow down but it's a matter of degree."
Whiting said he felt the FIA could not have done anything better.
"An accident on the track is well covered, of course. I think the way in which the marshals reacted, the safety car and the medical car got there in very quick time, the extracation vehicle was dispatched correctly, the ambulance came; nothing could have been done better at the circuit. It's a procedure that we have in place and we know exactly what to do under those circumstances."
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