Should 2014 Japanese Grand Prix Have Had Start Time Changed for Rain?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: October 5, 2014

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All week, the chatter coming out of the Suzuka paddock had been about the rain. Specifically, Typhoon Phanfone was making its way across the Pacific Ocean on a crash course with the Japanese archipelago.

In the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix, though, all the focus is on the health of Jules Bianchi—as it should be. The French driver suffered a horrific accident on Lap 42 when he crashed into a tractor that had been deployed to move Adrian Sutil's Sauber, which crashed a lap earlier.

The FIA issued a statement saying Bianchi "suffered a severe head injury" and had been taken to hospital for surgery. According to the BBC, he is now out of surgery and breathing on his own, although the specifics and extent of his injuries are not yet known.



After the immediate concerns about Bianchi's health, some F1 personnel also questioned whether the race should have started when it did and whether it should have continued in the strong rain and gathering darkness.

Those are valid questions, with or without Bianchi's crash.

With the massive storm predicted to hit the southeastern Japanese coast on Sunday afternoon local time—around the time the Japanese Grand Prix was set to begin—there was worry that the race would have to be cancelled. There was also talk of moving the start time earlier on Sunday, in the hopes of avoiding the worst of the rain.



The race was bookended by two significant downpours. At the beginning, after two laps under the safety car, the race was red-flagged, and the drivers came into the pit lane to wait out the storm. As the rain slowed, the race started again, and everyone soon changed from extreme wet to intermediate tyres.

Near the end of the race, the rain picked up again, and some drivers switched back to the full wet tyres shortly before Sutil and Bianchi crashed.

Williams' Felipe Massa said, "I was already scre...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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