Why did Eric Comas stop at Tamburello?

losthorizon

Found this really interesting article on an incident that happened after Sennas crash. After all these years I had actually forgot it had happened but saw it again recently and remembered John Watsons and Allard Kalfs ? commentary on it as clear as day.

Heres the background

http://viewingperspectives.blogspot.ie/2014/04/imola-at-20-why-did-erik-comas-stop-at.html

He stopped because of the helicopters no? I can't help but feel I'm missing a point.

Myrddin

Deleted User wrote: »

He stopped because of the helicopters no? I can't help but feel I'm missing a point.

Agreed Is it meant to be why did he go to the corner under a red flag?

djimi

I suspect its meant to be asking why he was where he was in the first place. He should never have been allowed to leave the pits.

Larbre34

Its no big deal, definitely a failure of race control, but Comas did no different to what Senna himself did the day before, i.e took his car around to the scene of the accident. Its clear Comas felt he owed Senna to look out for him after what he had done for him at Spa.

In 1994 the era was ending where circuit coverage for stewards and medics was poor. Drivers in the 1970s and 80s often stopped for colleagues as they were first on scene of big shunts in order to cut off the engines and avoid fires. Nigel Mansell and Alan Jones famously rescued Elio de Angelis from his burning car at a Le Castellet test, but to no avail.

djimi

I think the difference was that, in the case of Spa, Senna stopped when he saw the incident (as many before him had done), whereas at Imola Comas actually left the pits under red flags and drove around the circuit full pelt by the looks of it, even though he would have known that the medical team were at the scene. I understand his reasoning, but it was entirely unnecessary and he should not have gotten as far as he did.

Infoanon

Larbre34 wrote: »

In 1994 the era was ending where circuit coverage for stewards and medics was poor. Drivers in the 1970s and 80s often stopped for colleagues as they were first on scene of big shunts in order to cut off the engines and avoid fires. Nigel Mansell and Alan Jones famously rescued Elio de Angelis from his burning car at a Le Castellet test, but to no avail.

Small correction - it was team members who turned the car upright.

The Elio de Angelis tragedy was another low point in the history of formula 1, Elio's Brabham had landed upside down following a rear wing failure which resulted in the car somersaulting end over end and over a guard rail.
Initially a small fire broke out, there was approx 4 gallons of fuel on board, but the few marshalls who were in attendance wore shorts and the extinguishing equipment was not up to standard. Alan Jones,Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell attempted to right the car but the fire had quickly got hold and ultimately they failed to right the car, it took approx 10 minutes for the fire to be put out and the car was then righted by a number of team members from Brabham (other teams also helped)before Elio was brought to hospital - it took 30 minutes for a helicopter to arrive.

Elio was pronounced dead 29 hours later - officially as a result of upper body and chest injuries,however the only physical injury was a broken collar bone.Lack of oxygen resulted in brain damage.

Elio detested testing and was not due to run at Paul Ricard.

Where any lessons learned ? a few weeks later the fire crew at Paul Ricard mangaged to drive the wrong way up the pitlane and pour foam all over the race circuit as they attempted to put out an engine fire during the GP weekend.

Over the years there have been attempts to rewrite the history of the Elio De Angelis tragedy - eg Bernies autobiography.

As Larbre has mentioned drivers often stopped for others following an accident, one incident that rarely gets told is Nelson Piquet parking his Benetton broadside to protect Martin Donnelly from being hit following his Jerez accident.
Thankfully safety has greatly improved over the years.

RayM

I remember Eddie Irvine helping the marshals extricate Luciano Burti from the tyre wall at Eau Rouge in 2001. Although it was at least 50% Irvine's fault that he was in the wall in the first place...

Unfortunately, I can't imagine too many of today's drivers helping a stricken competitor like that.

losthorizon

RayM wrote: »

I remember Eddie Irvine helping the marshals extricate Luciano Burti from the tyre wall at Eau Rouge in 2001. Although it was at least 50% Irvine's fault that he was in the wall in the first place...

Unfortunately, I can't imagine too many of today's drivers helping a stricken competitor like that.

Maldonado would be a full time marshall under those circumstances

djimi

RayM wrote: »

Unfortunately, I can't imagine too many of today's drivers helping a stricken competitor like that.

Thankfully things have changed to the point where they dont have to these days, but Im not so sure that if something really nasty were to happen that someone wouldnt stop. I guess the difference between now and 20 years ago is that drivers have more faith in the marshalls and medical staff being able to deal with incidents quickly and properly, to the point where another driver getting involved would most likely hinder things rather than help.