Japanese F1 Grand Prix

Mercedes SLS AMG Safety Car leads the way for the first part of the race. Image Source: The Telegraph

Yesterdays Japanese Grand Prix was a wild one, there's no doubt about that. Parts of the Suzuka Circuit were pretty much flooded before the race and a typhoon was spooling in the distance. The race had to start under a safety car, but even that didn't last long as a red flag came out on lap two. This forced the cars to wait in a line at the pit exit before following the safety car around the track again. Fernando Alonsos car stopped working shortly after they went back on the track, the likely cause being water somehow finding its way into the electrics while sitting in the pits. The safety car didn't come back in until about lap eight and the cars could finally go racing on the soaked Suzuka Circuit.

Jules Bianchi on the left in the Marussia F1 car . Image Source: USA Today

The biggest news of the day came at the end of the race, however. Adrian Sutil slid off the track on lap 40 at turn seven and hit the barrier. The track went under yellow flag and a tractor came to tow Sutils car out. This was when disaster struck. Jules Bianchi went off the track in the same place and in more or less the same way Sutil did. But this time there was a tractor in the way. The race was red flagged and was declared finished shortly after this incident. Bianchi was then taken to hospital for surgery, unconscious and with severe head injuries.

French F1 Driver Jules Bianchi. Image Source: BBC

The FIA possibly could have run the race earlier that day, which probably would have been the better decision looking back on it now. But nobody could have foreseen something like this happening. It was an unusual situation with the tractor being there and the course was also under yellow flags at the time of the crash. But I still hope the FIA and Formula One will look back on yesterdays events with a critical eye. So all there is to do now is to hope the very best for Jules Bianchi and that he makes a full recovery.