Selection box - Focus remains in Japan despite Russian racing - It's hard to move on from such a terrible F1 weekend
Published by Christine
Since finding out that Jules Bianchi's condition had settled at "critical but stable" there hasn't been a lot of news coming from the Japan hospital that houses him since his crash during the race in Suzuka. The F1 paddock was forced to move on to face the Russian Grand Prix, but even with another race to comprehend, most thoughts remained on what occurred the previous weekend. With that in mind, we'll start this week with another broadcaster's point of view.
As discussed in last week's selection box, the view from those having to cover the Japanese race itself, or attempt to move the coverage on from the incident, is fascinating. Here, Maurice Hamilton discusses how hard it is to come to terms with that famed disclaimer "motorsport is dangerous."
This is where experience comes in. I thought Damon Hill and Martin Brundle were brilliant in their analysis of Suzuka on Sky Sports simply because they truly understand what motivates drivers through the thrilling moments and dreadful occasions such as this. They had been there as racing drivers and now they were attempting to apply the same professional standard to the very different and, in my view, infinitely more difficult role of broadcaster. To put it bluntly, they had to ignore the emotion swirling around them and do what they were paid to do without appearing cold and indifferent.
It's not just Formula One that suffers from horrific crashes, and the inaugural Formula E race had its own terrible incident right at the final corner of the final lap of the race. Thankfully, Nick Heidfeld and Nicolas Prost both walked away, to the point where they almost had a fight, but in this article the official site takes a look at the safety initiatives that helped keep the drivers from coming to harm.
The format for crash testing is very simple. The impact tests are dynamic tests where the chassis is driven at solid objects. The monocoque is bolted to a sled and equipped with a crash-test dummy. To measure impact force the sled is pulled by cables into the object at a predetermined speed. Following impact the damage is assessed to examine whether the car can stand up to high loads at the front-end where the driver’s feet are most exposed.
This week, our resident game review Lukeh was very vocal about not bothering with F1 2014. Absolutely fair enough, but if you're looking for a review of the game and/or why Lukeh has chosen to give it a miss this time, the below might help you out.
What you're getting here, then, is a selection of new car models, a couple of new tracks - the Red Bull Ring that returned to the calendar this season, a short track that takes in the glorious inclines of the Austrian countryside, as well as the Sochi Autodrom whose superb off-camber turn 3 couldn't make up for a thunderously dull debut for the Russian Grand Prix this weekend past - and... there's very little else.
Back to the racing action, and F1's first appearance in Russia for over 100 years. Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft managed to whip up a guest post about the Sochi race for the Silverstone circuit site (an odd combination of factors really) - focusing on the enthusiasm of the fans and just how many autographs Damon Hill gets asked for.
On Sunday nearly 55,000 fans watched on from the side of the track and judging by the smiles on their faces enjoyed every minute of it, which is something of a relief really as the race itself did little to convince the first time fans that they should be rushing to book for next year as well. Whilst I’ve commentated and watched worse, this was hardly a Grand Prix that will be forcing its way into Sky Sports F1’s list of Classic Races anytime soon.
There was a slightly incongruous appearance by the Russian president towards the end of the race, caught on the world feed cameras deep in conversation with Bernie Ecclestone. Mr Putin also handed out the trophies on the podium, as well as making an unusual appearance in the pre-podium green room. There's a lot of conversation about F1 mixing with politics following such scenes, and here Joe Saward offers up his opinion on the matter.
The one discordant note, as far as I was concerned, was the feeling that the sport was being used for propaganda purposes by President Vladimir Putin. When someone famous turns up (or leaves) in the middle of a race you know that their motivation is purely related to photo opportunities and video clips. They have no interest beyond that.
