stevie wonder himself could have seen it

[Craig.]

Raikonens tyre exploding that is. Whether or not he should have pitted is very debatable, as it was dangerous the pitting would have been allowed. Ron Dennis being the person he is i have a feeling told him not to. Great race by Alonso not spectacular but did the job. Ferraris cost themselves a better position thanks to the first corner mess up. Schumis pace wasnt spectacular anyway. Barrichellos pace was again the first corner mix up cost him. Williams again looked good. For once the bridgestones had a better wear rate than the Michelins. Now they just need the single lap pace.

[C]

I suppose it was what you call in the trade "a gamble". The fact that the suspension failed on the last lap showed how close it was to paying off, but thats half the fun...

Now, thinking back to the good old days, in the interests of safety, why don't the allow tyre stops, but ban refuelling. If a driver can't conserve his fuel well enough, then

[Craig.]

Which is what i have been saying since they started this whole stupid 1 tyre rule. F1 cars used to run on one tank of fuel and with the engine size reduction, it could be possible. Sato was lucky Kimi didn't wallop him up the back. The other option is get rid of the groove requirements and make them slicks again.  

[ATI_7500]

On the last lap - ooooh, that hurts so much!

[4_Series_Scania]

The tyre did'nt explode, nor had it deflated after his little accident.

The damage was done earlier in the race, he flat spotted the tyre, driving the hell out of the car, basically, as the in-car footage shows, the vibration was enough to eventually cause the suspension to fail. This is exactly what happened.

The professional driver in him would have known this, the Racer in him stopped him from pitting, and, possibly still being on the podium.

He's got my respect for the sheer win or bust attitude, it shows the racer he / or his superiors giving him the team orders, are.

Vibrations are bad in any vehicle, having experienced one of my trailer tyres overtaking me at the same time a vibration stopped, I know this to be the case!

[Craig.]

unless you run rock hard suspension i dont think it can compair to much, but i dont know what a trailer tyre coming off feels like so maybe you can your right that in the end it was a suspension thing but if you look at the same time there was a bit of tyre which peeled off into the suspension. You could see with a good 10 laps to go that the tyre wasn't going to make it to the end it was half the size of the other almost as you say he flat spotted it big time which didnt help and it basically looked like the carcass was going to just works its way off the side of the main tyre.

[4_Series_Scania]

I know one thing, I bet next time, he pits!  ;D

Either way, I bet McLaren are pleased with todays efforts,

What's going on with Mr Schumacher though (Michael) he seems way off his usual form to me, not that Ferrari themselves were off the podium.

Could the Champ be thinking of his retirement more than his race ?

[C]

Seeing it at the time (I don't know why I wrote the tyre exploded), the most danger was going to come from the wheel departing all attachments to the car and giving Kimi a headache. A blow out would have been mild by comparison then.

Here's the McLaren explanation, and I tend to agree with them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4591943.stm

[Craig.]

In the end you are right it was a suspension thing but a spectacular one at that:).
Schumi? i dont know he wont retire if he looses his title this year, his ego wont allow it. One thing i do know is they will be working on next years car as we speak so they dont get caught out again. Their problems are almost impossible to figure out, they are phenominally fast after a pit stop its just before then and towards the end they cant seem to do anything. They need to re-tune the engines to get more power from them at any rate. Expect big things at the US GP thats all about speed, Mclaren and Ferrari will be the teams to beat.

[Craig.]

Seeing it at the time (I don't know why I wrote the tyre exploded), the most danger was going to come from the wheel departing all attachments to the car and giving Kimi a headache. A blow out would have been mild by comparison then.

Here's the McLaren explanation, and I tend to agree with them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4591943.stm

Dennis only saw

[4_Series_Scania]

[quote]

Dennis only saw

[Craig.]

I know his helmet was pierced, was the suspension still attached to the tyre?

[4_Series_Scania]

I know his helmet was pierced, was the suspension still attached to the tyre?

No, a part of I believe the suspension control arm did the damage.

I've got a rather gruesome link somewhere, can't find it for love nor money. - Edit Found it, but, its not pretty. http://www.ayrton-senna.com/s-files/picsf03.html

"Senna's death was due exclusively to the fact that part of the suspension block on one of the wheels snapped off and broke through his visor hitting his forehead."

"It was like a bullet. If it were not for this, he (Senna) could have walked away from the accident."

- Federico Bendinelli, director of Sagis, the company that runs the Imola circuit.

Source. http://www.ayrton-senna.com/s-files/start.html

Senna, For me, #1.

[Craig.]

It was reported that most likely part of the suspension, with the wheel still attached, speared through Senna's visor entering his skull

i still tend to agree with that report. In the end whether its true or not, it gave us the wheel tethers which have saved lives.

[C]

Put it this way, if the tether hadn't held the wheel & tyre, the end of todays race could've been messy...