Full & Immediate Investigation has been Ordered by FIA
Jules Bianchi now in 'Critical Condition'
Updates from Tuesday, Oct. 7
A full and immediate investigation has been ordered by FIA president Jean Todt into the circumstances that led to Jules Bianchi's crash at Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix.
Bianchi remains in a critical, but stable condition after his car collided with a recovery crane—leaving him with severe brain injuries. Todt is determined to find out if the accident could have been avoided in what were hazardous conditions at Suzuka, per the Telegraph's Daniel Johnson:
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Charlie Whiting, the race director, was asked directly by Jean Todt, the FIA president, to compile a report into the exact circumstances of the collision during the rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.
Todt’s son, Nicolas, is Bianchi’s manager and was at his bedside along with the Marussia driver’s family in Yokkaichi last night. Bianchi remains in a “critical but stable” condition after sustaining severe head injuries when he hit a recovery tractor.
The report is likely to be completed in the coming days, and certainly before the inaugural Russian Grand Prix in Sochi next weekend, an FIA source said, amid growing criticism of some of the safety measures surrounding the 25-year-old’s accident.
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Byron Young of the Daily Mirror reports that the specific type of recovery crane used by Formula One, with which Bianchi collided on Sunday, will likely still be in use at the Russian Grand Prix despite safety fears.
Young writes:
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MirrorSport has been told there is unlikely to be sufficient time to make fundamental changes for Formula 1’s debut in Sochi this coming Sunday.
Bianchi hit a crane deployed in a sand trap to remove a car from an earlier accident. Such recovery vehicles are widely used around the world for international sporting events.
Despite criticisms from the likes of Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve they remain a vital part of event management. And the layout and structure of Sochi in particular means they are unlikely to be such a factor.
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Daily Mail UK Reports:
FIA INVESTIGATION
Widespread reports in Britain concurred that the FIA had opened an urgent investigation into the incident.
Britain's Daily Telegraph said on Monday that race director Charlie Whiting had been asked directly by FIA president Jean Todt to compile the report before Sunday's Russian Grand Prix in Sochi on Sunday.
Former Formula One driver Martin Brundle, now a commentator in Britain, was one of many people involved in the sport who questioned the safety procedures used.
He recalled his own near miss with a crane when driving in the sport 20 years ago and questioned the need for them to be so close to the track.
"I nearly lost my life against one of them, I just missed it and hit a marshal. I closed my eyes and I thought that was the end," he was quoted as saying by British media.
"The tractors are just too high and you are sitting down low. I've been saying this for a long time.
"You are going into the barrier if you go off there. There's no way of recovering, you are going too fast."
Bianchi's accident was the most serious involving a driver at a grand prix weekend since Brazilian Felipe Massa suffered near-fatal head injuries in Hungary in 2009 after being hit on the helmet by a bouncing spring shed from a car in front.
Massa made a full recovery from that incident and was racing for Williams on Sunday.
Despite that, Formula One remains proud of its improved safety record and constantly strives to make cars safer, but acknowledges the sport will always be dangerous.
"We have done so much for safety," Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone was quoted as saying by British newspaper The Times.
"These days, you see an accident on the track and the driver undoes his safety belt, flips off his steering wheel and jumps out unharmed.
"It's difficult for me to say what happened and it will be for an inquiry to find out exactly what did go on."
Brain Injury Specialist who Helped Treat Schumacher Flies to Japan to Advise on Treatment of Jules Bianchi after Horror Crash
- Professor Gerard Saillant advised after Michael Schumacher's ski crash
- A top neurologist in France, he is president of the FIA medical commission
- He arrived in Yokkaichi early this morning and went straight to the hospital
- Bianchi, 25, in 'critical but stable' condition after Japanese Grand Prix crash
- Marussia driver was injured when his car ploughed into the back of a tractor
- His girlfriend Camille Marchetti, 24, sends up a prayer for her 'champion'
Daily Mail UK, 7 October 2014
Specialist: Professor Gerard Saillant, president of the FIA medical commission, arrived in Yokkaichi early this morning to see Jules Bianchi.
The brain injury specialist who treated Michael Schumacher after his skiing accident has flown to Japan to advise on the treatment of Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi.Professor Gerard Saillant, president of the FIA medical commission, arrived in Yokkaichi early this morning and went straight to the hospital where Bianchi is said to be in a 'critical' condition.
On Sunday, the Marussia driver suffered a severe head injury when his car smashed into a tractor rescuing the crashed Sauber of Adrian Sutil, who had spun off on the previous lap of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Prof Saillant arrived at Mie General Hospital with Nicolas Todt, Bianchi's agent, and went straight in via the emergency entrance to avoid crowds of waiting reporters, Le Parisien reports.
Bianchi, who is just 25, remains in intensive care today after emergency surgery on a severe head injury following his high speed crash on the rain-soaked Suzuka circuit.
Sources at the hospital said Bianchi was breathing but only with the help of a ventilator, not on his own as was originally reported in the French media on Sunday night.
His mother and father arrived at the hospital last night. 'When we have an update with Saillant, we will speak to you,' Philippe Bianchi told waiting reporters.
Famous in the world of sport and one of France's leading neurologists, Prof Saillant is a brain and spinal injury expert with a particular specialism in motorsports.
It was he who helped to treat Michael Schumacher after the retired F1 ace's devastating head injury while skiiing in December last year. He also oversaw Schumacher's medical care when he broke his leg in the 1999 British Grand Prix.
A spokesman for the FIA, Formula One's governing body, said last night Bianchi's condition was ‘critical but stable’ and it is understood his family will finally see him on Tuesday. They had been delayed in getting to him due to Typhoon Phanfone.
The first video of the horrific moment Bianchi crashed into the digger has now been distributed online. The clip was released as Jules Bianchi was revealed to be in a ‘critical but stable’ condition following the crash.
An ambulance was sent to the scene straight after Bianchi's crash - which knocked him unconscious - and the 25-year-old Frenchman was taken to the Mie General Medical Center in Yokkaichi.