131 replies to this topic

[MrHahn]

I wouldnt rule out some kind of roll cage, which would restrict visibility even more. If I was Ferrari I'd be livid that the Brawn was falling apart without any kind of accident

[vietlol]

I doubt we're going to see any sort of closed cockpit

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

no way, my nigga gonna win

Alonso rules out fighting for win

By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Saturday, July 25th 2009, 13:54 GMT

Fernando Alonso says he is not thinking of victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix despite securing pole position on Saturday.

The Renault driver gave his team its first pole since the 2006 season in a session marked by Felipe Massa's accident and by the confusion caused by the timing failing at the end of it.

But despite emerging on top, Alonso admitted Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber are favourites for tomorrow.

The Spaniard also hinted at having opted for a low-fuel run in Q3.

"This is a special circuit for me I had my first win here in 2003, so I will always be happy when I drive in Budapest and it will be interesting tomorrow," said Alonso.

"We made a step forward and the car did improve in the last two races. We are more competitive, maybe not as quick as these two guys. We hope to score some good points tomorrow.

He added: "We will try (to win) but being honest and realistic, our target is to get some good points. After the last four races where we only scored points in the Nurburgring we need some points for the constructors', and we know if we start very heavy we go around 8th/9th position.

"We are aggressive this time, we did what we wanted for pole, from now on we will push for the race. We need to go for it."

The two-time champion said he has been encouraged by Renault's progress in the last races, and he is optimistic of a strong second half of the season.

"It seems that in the last two or three races the new stuff we put in the car is working really well," he said. "I am confident we found a good direction to go in terms of improving the car and this is the first good result of the championship so far.

"So hopefully the second half of the season will be more in this room, but hopefully we can fight for Q3 and be in top five a little bit more often."

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/77250

[vietlol]

a driver playing down his chances, I have never seen this before ever

[_R_]

the FIA talked about closed cockpits back a couple seasons ago when I think it was DC that almost took Webbers head off by running over the car....

hope Massa is okay, and yeah, i was nervous after last weeks incident with the rouge tire....

Button swearing in surprise when Alonso told him his time on live tv was

with alonso light, vettel in P2, webber in p3 and button in p8 behind kimi, the results will be interesting...

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Ferrari has confirmed that Felipe Massa will not take part in tomorrow's Hungarian GP following his accident in today's qualifying session. The Brazilian crashed in to the tyre barriers in the closing stages of the second phase of today's qualifying session after being hit on the head by a piece of debris thought to have fallen from Rubens Barrichello's car. After an initial examination at the circuit's medical centre the 2008 world championship runner-up was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Budapest where his condition, according to the team, is said to be "stable". Asked whether Massa will take part in tomorrow's race a team spokesman told reporters: "He will not race."

Photographs of Massa after the accident show the Brazilian's helmet to be badly damaged around the aperture on his helmet, with the visor ripped away, and the driver sporting a vicious cut and bruising to his left eye. The accident comes just days after Henry Surtees, son of 1964 World Champion, John Surtees, was killed in an F2 race at Brands Hatch after being hit on the head by a wheel which had become detached from another car.

http://www.pitpass.c...es_art_id=38522

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Massa suffers skull damage, concussion

By Pablo Elizalde Saturday, July 25th 2009, 15:55 GMT

Felipe Massa will need to undergo surgery after it emerged he has suffered bone damage of his skull and a brain concussion in his accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Brazilian will be forced to miss the race after he was hit in the head by debris believed to belong to Rubens Barrichello's car.

Massa was airlifted to a Budapest hospital, where he remains in stable condition.

Ferrari said in a statement that Massa will need to undergo surgery and will have to stay under observation in intensive care for an undisclosed period of time.

"After the accident during the qualifying session of the Grand Prix of Hungary, Felipe Massa was airlifted to the AEK hospital in Budapest," the statement said. "Felipe was conscious at the arrival at the hospital and his general conditions remain stable.

"Following a complete medical examination it emerged that he had suffered a cut on his forehead, a bone damage of his skull and a brain concussion. These conditions need to be operated on after which he will remain under observation in intensive care."

The team said further information will be released later tonight.

http://www.autosport...rt.php/id/77276

[doublemeat]

AP story with some pics - but nothing showing the reported helmet damage:

http://www.google.co...WQFtuwD99LJ8O00

Looks like he'll be okay...Rubens checked on him and they talked.

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

Fuel Weights:

Spoiler

Pos Driver Weight (kg)
1. Alonso Renault 637.5
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 655.0
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 652.0
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 650.5
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 654.0
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 655.5
7. Raikkonen Ferrari 651.5
8. Button Brawn-Mercedes 664.5
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 658.0
10. Massa Ferrari
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 671.5
12. Trulli Toyota 671.3
13. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 689.0
14. Glock Toyota 679.2
15. Piquet Renault 667.7
16. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 658.0
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 680.5
18. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 683.5
19. Kubica BMW-Sauber 666.0
20. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 675.5

Fred has enough fuel for maybe 12-13 laps. Everyone else in the top 9 can go to at least lap 18.

[draobpi]

WARNING POSSIBLE DISTURBING PICTURE AHEAD:

[DrDickAction]

Wow, what a crazy quali.

I immediately thought of Surtees and said "oh fuck" when they showed the replay and highlighted the spring.

[DrDickAction]

WARNING POSSIBLE DISTURBING PICTURE AHEAD:

He looks pretty fucking agitated.

[_R_]

Felipe Massa has successfully undergone surgery for the injuries he suffered in his accident in qualifying in Hungary.

Ferrari said the driver will now remain under observation in the intensive care unit at the AEK hospital in Budapest, where the Brazilian was taken after being hit by a spring during Q2.

Massa had suffered a damaged skull and brain concussion, as well as a cut on his forehead.

The Italian team said a further update on his condition will be issued tomorrow morning.

Brawn confirmed the spring belonged to a damper from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car, weighing around 800 grams.

"We had a problem at the back, so we are still investigating and we haven't had the piece back from the FIA yet so once we get it back we can understand what occurred and then draw some conclusions," said team boss Ross Brawn.

"It is the first time we've had a problem with the car. The car has been really reliable and we are obviously looking all through the data to understand what caused the problem. It is hard to comment at the moment until we have studied everything.

"We put a new component on Jenson's car in qualifying just to be safe, but we are still studying everything that went on to understand what happened."

@ pic

[kngrsll]

wow fucking crazy

[Shi]

Massa

[mads]

hey guys i just got back from NYC and realized massa nearly Diafed, the only qualifying session i've missed this year, kinda a freakish thing when you think about Henry Surtees last week, with a similar incident...

[mads]

MSC surprise Cameo? ibwin

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

MSC surprise Cameo? ibwin

Unlikely. Only RAI for this race, and it'll most likely have to be Badoer or Gene until Massa makes a full recovery (don't think the 3 week summer break is enough time)

9) CHANGES OF DRIVER
19.1 a) During a season each team will be permitted to use four drivers. Changes may be made at any time before the start of the qualifying practice session provided any change proposed after 16.00 on the day of scrutineering receives the consent of the stewards.
Additional changes for reasons of force majeure will be considered separately.
Any new driver may score points in the Championship.
b) In addition to the above each team will be permitted to run additional drivers during P1 and P2 provided :
- the stewards are informed which cars and drivers each team intends to use in each session before the end of initial scrutineering, changes after this time may only be made with the consent of the stewards ;
- no more than two drivers are used in any one session ;
- they carry the race number of the nominated driver they replace ;
- they are in possession of a Super Licence.
c) If one of the team's nominated drivers is unable to drive at some stage after the end of initial scrutineering, and the stewards consent to a change of driver, the replacement driver must use the engine, gearbox and tyres which were allocated to the original driver (see Articles 25.3 and 28.4).

[Dr. Jimmmah!]

For those that missed quali:

JB: Where are you?
FA: I don't know... Hey, your time?
JB: 22.5
FA: 21.5
JB: No, 22.5
FA: I'm 21.5
JB: Fuckin' hell!

[Skyliner]

Poor Massa. Just saw it on Sportscenter.

[Skyliner]

BBC News, 9:32pm:

The Associated Press news agency quoted a hospital spokesman as saying Massa’s condition was “life-threatening”. But Ferrari denied the reports, insisting the operation was “positive”.

Rubens Barrichello on Twitter, 9:01pm:

I just came back from the hospital.Felipe went trough a cirurgy which went very well.Now he is asleep waiting for a new scan tomorrow

James Allen on Twitter, 8:19pm:

Ignore reports on Sky/AP that Massa is in life threatening condition. He’s stable after an op and will be okay. Long recuperation though

Sky:

Massa - who drives for Ferrari - was airlifted to hospital in Budapest where officials said he is in a “life-threatening but stable” condition after an operation on a skull fracture.

Several people are questioning the accuracy of the Sky story, similar versions of which have appeared on Planet F1, Yahoo, AP and others. Sky seem to have removed it from their F1 home page now.

If you have any further updates on the story please post them below or share them with me via Twitter.

All times BST

Other questions people are asking

Will Ferrari be able to field a third driver in tomorrow’s race? Not as I understand - see this article for more on the rules regarding driver changes at races.

Who will Ferrari use to replace Massa if he cannot race later this season? It looks like Massa will have a long recuperation. They could use either of their third drivers - Luca Badoer or Marc Gene, both of which have F1 experience. But they are not limited to just those drivers - they could use someone else.

What did Massa hit? According to Ross Brawn it was a spring from Barrichello’s car weighing around 800g.

Source: F1 Fanatic article

[MrHahn]

For those that missed quali:

JB: Where are you?
FA: I don't know... Hey, your time?
JB: 22.5
FA: 21.5
JB: No, 22.5
FA: I'm 21.5
JB: Fuckin' hell!

As much as it sounds like a chav comment but swearing in F1 shows these guys are real and the emotion is still high in the sport.

That photo of Felipe really shows how lucky he was - if that hit him a bit more straight on, he'd be kaput

[kngrsll]

thank god it didnt hit the visor area, that would have been game over.

[HighTachPres]

Alonso... but he'll be pitting when some cars are making their first lap

[mads]

the FIA talked about closed cockpits back a couple seasons ago when I think it was DC that almost took Webbers head off by running over the car....

hope Massa is okay, and yeah, i was nervous after last weeks incident with the rouge tire....

Button swearing in surprise when Alonso told him his time on live tv was

with alonso light, vettel in P2, webber in p3 and button in p8 behind kimi, the results will be interesting...

you mean DC's usually fair of taking out a williams in the first corner, in that case he nearly chopped wurz's head off in Australia 07