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Brundle wants recovery vehicles reconsidered
Martin Brundle thinks Jules Bianchi's accident at the Japanese Grand Prix highlights the need to consider the way recovery vehicles are used in Formula One.
Bianchi is in intensive care after suffering severe head injuries when he aquaplaned off track at Turn 7 and hit a truck removing the Sauber of Adrian Sutil. The incident was eerily similar to Brundle's crash at the same corner in 1994 when he spun off the circuit in heavy rain while yellow flags were being waved, narrowly missing a recovery vehicle but hitting a marshal, who suffered a broken leg.
Brundle says the incident at Suzuka shows how dangerous it is to deploy a recovery vehicle to the side of the track.
"My concern, and I've expressed it many times, is having those things [recovery vehicles] on track," Brundle told Sky Sports F1 at the conclusion of Sunday's race. "I nearly lost my life against one of them and just missed it and then hit a marshal. Obviously I have grave concerns, if it's a career-ending incident he's had or more grave than that.
"The things are too high, and you're sitting down too low, especially on that corner because you just keep turning left, so you're going into the barriers if you go off there, there's no way of recovering, you're going too fast."
Having experienced a similar crash, Brundle understands how easy it is to spin off the track in heavy rain even when actively adhering to yellow flag conditions.
"Some will say 'well there's yellow flags', even double-waved yellow flags but that doesn't stop you actually spinning off because we saw Ericsson spinning off behind the safety car. I spun off with yellow flags there, there was so much spray I couldn't actually see my own steering wheel let alone the yellow flags on the day. If one car goes off in a certain position there's so much greater chance of another one going off in the same place."