Doctors use Formula One pit crews as safety model

American Medical News reports hospitals in at least a dozen countries are learning how to translate the split-second timing and near-perfect synchronisation of Formula One pit crews to the high-risk handoffs of patients from surgery to recovery and intensive care.
"In Formula One, they have checklists, databases, and they have well-defined processes for doing things, and we don't really have any of those things in health care."

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/10/doctors_use_formula_one_pit_cr.php

JeanPierre Beltoise Olivier Beretta Allen Berg Georges Berger Gerhard Berger

Vettel set for titles aplenty


© Daily Telegraph
Tom Cary says in his column in the Daily Telegraph that the man dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ has plenty of time to match or even surpass his compatriot’s record haul of seven world titles after he cinched his first in the Abu Dhabi night.
“Here, after all, is a young man, already dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ by Germany’s tabloid press, winning the first of what will presumably be multiple world championships, and all at the tender age of 23. Plenty of time yet to match Schumacher's incredible haul of seven world titles. And yet, their phenomenal ability to drive racing cars apart, there is little similarity between the two men. “There are still lingering doubts over his racing ability but with such blistering qualifying pace he is nearly always leading from the front anyway. Vettel is set for multiple world championships. Just don’t call him Baby Schumi.”
The Guardian’s Paul Weaver says it was difficult to begrudge Vettel his moment of glory after he won the first of what will be many world titles. He also looks back at some of the season’s highlights.
“An amazing Formula One season produced its final twist here on Sunday when Sebastian Vettel, who had never led the title race, won his first world championship. It is difficult to begrudge him his glory, for he had more poles (10) than any other driver and shared the most wins (five) with Fernando Alonso. There will be red faces as well as red cars and overalls at Ferrari, though, for deciding to bring their man in when they did, only to see him re-emerge into heavy traffic. “Among the highlights, and every race felt like a highlight after the bore-start in Bahrain, there was that wonderful beginning to his McLaren career by Jenson Button, who won two of his first four races, even though he couldn't keep up the pace, especially in qualifying. “Hamilton once again drove his heart out, and outperformed a car that looked a little too ordinary at times. He was superb in Montreal. Then there was Webber, the Anglophile Aussie who was the favourite among most neutrals to win the title. There was that spectacular crash when he ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen and the most famous of his four wins, at Silverstone, when he said to his team at the end of the race: 'Not bad for a No2 driver.' “But in the end there was only one German who mattered. It was the remarkable Vettel. This will be the first of a clutch of championships for him.”
The Independent’s David Tremayne focuses on the plight of the other title contenders, writing it is easier to feel more sorry for one than the other.
“It was impossible not to feel for both Webber and Alonso. Yet while a frustrated Alonso gestured at Petrov after the race, the Australian, predictably, refused to complain about his pitstop timing. “A world championship seemed an inevitable part of Sebastian Vettel's future, but it came a little sooner than most expected, after his recent tribulations. You wouldn't bet against several more, and if that record-breaking streak continues, perhaps even Schumacher's achievements will be overshadowed.”
And the Mirror’s Byron Young elaborates further on the petulant behaviour of Fernando Alonso on his slowing down lap after his title dreams ended behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
“Fernando Alonso was hurled into more controversy last night for a wild gesture at the former Lada racer who cost him the title. But the Spaniard brushed off accusations he gave Russian Vitaly Petrov the finger for ruining his title hopes by blocking him for 40 laps as they duelled over sixth place. "The Ferrari ace was caught on television cruising alongside the Renault driver on the slowing down lap and gesticulating from the cockpit. Petrov was unrepentant: "What was I supposed to do? Just get out of his way, pull to the side? I don't think that is how we race. It was important for the team for me to get points."

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/vettel_set_for_titles_aplenty_1.php

Johnny Cecotto Andrea de Cesaris Francois Cevert Eugene Chaboud Jay Chamberlain

How good is Bruno Senna?

Bruno Senna describes sealing a drive at Williams in 2012 as "the start of my Formula 1 career for real". It is a date that could have come three years previously, had events turned out slightly differently.

In the winter of 2008-9, the nephew of the Formula 1 legend Ayrton Senna was on the verge of being signed by the Honda team after impressing in a test alongside Jenson Button.

But then Honda pulled out of F1, team principal Ross Brawn was forced to spend the winter desperately trying to save the team, and when he did so at the 11th hour, he thought it better, given the circumstances, to stick with the experience of Rubens Barrichello rather than the promise he had seen in the younger Brazilian.

Now the wheel has turned full circle, and it is Senna who has deprived Barrichello of a seat in F1. But it has been a long time coming.

Bruno Senna posing with a Williams logo

Bruno Senna drove for HRT in 2010 and spent most of 2011 as a reserve for Renault. Photo: Getty

While Button went on to win the world title for the reconstituted Brawn team in 2009, Senna was left to scrape around for a drive in sportscars, biding his time before another chance in F1 came up, before landing a drive with the nascent HRT outfit in 2010.

The dream turned into a nightmare as the team limped through their maiden season, and for Senna it was a relief to leave, even if it again meant he did not have a full-time grand prix drive.

He spent most of 2011 as a reserve driver for Renault, doing very little driving, before being drafted in to replace the sacked veteran Nick Heidfeld for the final eight races of the year.

The fractured nature of his brief F1 career so far reflects that of his rise up the junior formulae and means it is very difficult to assess the quality of a driver on whom, realistically, a post-restructure Williams will depend to revive their failing fortunes, given the erratic form shown by his team-mate Pastor Maldonado in his debut season last year.

Senna's path to the Williams seat was eased by a substantial sponsorship package from Brazil, a situation that will inevitably see him labelled in some quarters as a 'pay-driver'.

This is quite a stigma in F1 - it traditionally means the driver needed to bring money to make him attractive to team, the implication being that his talent on its own was not enough.

Both he and Williams were at pains to emphasise on Tuesday that they had put their new driver through a rigorous assessment programme before signing him up - and that any talk of money had followed only once they had established to their satisfaction that he was good enough.

"We had an extensive driver-evaluation programme with a handful of drivers," said chief engineer Mark Gillan, "and we made the final decision based on raw pace, consistency, tyre management, technical feedback and mental capacity - and most importantly the potential impact they would have on the team.

"In all those areas it was very clear that Bruno has not had a lot of experience in single-seater racing, but has consistently shown improvement and real talent."

Of course, Gillan would say that - Williams chief executive Adam Parr spent a long time last year trying to convince the world that Maldonado was not a 'pay-driver', despite the sponsorship deal with Venezeula's national oil company that accompanied him to the team.

Maldonado has talent - he out-qualified team-mate Barrichello at Monaco last year, for example - but it is fair to say that he would not be in an F1 car without that help.

Senna is a different case.

Ayrton Senna once said of Bruno: "If you think I'm good, wait until you see my nephew." That, though, was when Bruno was cutting his teeth in karts in Brazil as a child. The great man's death brought Bruno's fledgling career to a shuddering halt at the age of 10.

His family forbade him from racing, and it was not until 10 years later - very late for a man to start a career in single-seater racing cars - that Bruno was able to take it up again.

It has meant a career on fast-forward, and the necessity to soak up vast amounts of information and experience much quicker than his rivals.

Ayrton Senna

Ayrton Senna once said of Bruno: "If you think I'm good, wait until you see my nephew." Photo: AP

Inevitably, that has led to mistakes, but there have also been flashes of real talent, even if it has remained difficult to form a conclusive judgement.

At HRT, the car was awful, the team struggling just to survive and his team-mate Karun Chandhok was then an unknown quantity.

At Renault last year, the qualifying scores between Senna and team-mate Vitaly Petrov - who had not only been in the car all year, but was also in his second season in F1 - were four apiece.

But of the four races where Senna was on top, two of them were the Belgian and Japanese Grands Prix, held at Spa-Francorchamps and Suzuka, two of the three toughest tests for a driver in the world, the other being Monaco. At Spa, on his debut for the team, Senna qualified a brilliant seventh, directly in front of double world champion Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, no less.

With a young driver, especially an inexperienced one, the key is always to look for the highs. The bad points, the crashes, the occasional clumsiness, can be ironed out. But without inherent pace, a driver is going nowhere.

They know a decent driver when they see one at Renault, who have been renamed Lotus for 2012. Trackside operations director Alan Permane has worked with Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica and he says his impressions of Senna were largely positive.

"I don't think there's any doubt about his pace," Permane says. "What lets him down - and he knows it - is his consistency. But he didn't get a chance to show it. He had eight races with us but a lot of them were compromised by car problems."

Permane admits that it is difficult to be sure exactly how quick Senna is because Petrov is not exactly a proven top-level benchmark.

"Bruno was at least as quick as - if not quicker than - Vitaly," Permane says. "It's difficult to say whether he's going to be an Alonso/Kubica/Schumacher character, but some drivers take a long time to come along.

"Look at Jenson Button - when he drove for us, Giancarlo Fisichella destroyed him, and Fisi would be the first guy to admit he's not a mega. He was a very good number two. But now Jenson's fantastic. Can Senna do that? Only time will tell.

"He's very confident, very relaxed, almost performs better under pressure. The cars these days are trickier to drive (than they used to be) for someone who jumps in cold. And I think he did a brilliant job to do that.

"There's definitely something there. He definitely can be there on merit."

Backed by a budget or not, then, Senna more than deserves a chance to show what he can do.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/01/how_good_is_bruno_senna.html

Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell

Robert Kubica Hospitalised Following Rally Accident

UPDATE ON KUBICA’s CONDITION:  http://wp.me/p3uiu-11K Renault Lotus F1 driver Robert Kubica has been airlifted to hospital following a car accident while competing on a rally. The incident, described as a high speed accident, left the Pole injured and he had to be airlifted to hospital.  His co-driver Jakub Gerber was uninjured in the incident. While [...]

Source: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/robert-kubica-hospitalised-following-rally-accident/

Georges Berger Gerhard Berger Eric Bernard Enrique Bernoldi Enrico Bertaggia

Vettel set for titles aplenty


© Daily Telegraph
Tom Cary says in his column in the Daily Telegraph that the man dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ has plenty of time to match or even surpass his compatriot’s record haul of seven world titles after he cinched his first in the Abu Dhabi night.
“Here, after all, is a young man, already dubbed ‘Baby Schumi’ by Germany’s tabloid press, winning the first of what will presumably be multiple world championships, and all at the tender age of 23. Plenty of time yet to match Schumacher's incredible haul of seven world titles. And yet, their phenomenal ability to drive racing cars apart, there is little similarity between the two men. “There are still lingering doubts over his racing ability but with such blistering qualifying pace he is nearly always leading from the front anyway. Vettel is set for multiple world championships. Just don’t call him Baby Schumi.”
The Guardian’s Paul Weaver says it was difficult to begrudge Vettel his moment of glory after he won the first of what will be many world titles. He also looks back at some of the season’s highlights.
“An amazing Formula One season produced its final twist here on Sunday when Sebastian Vettel, who had never led the title race, won his first world championship. It is difficult to begrudge him his glory, for he had more poles (10) than any other driver and shared the most wins (five) with Fernando Alonso. There will be red faces as well as red cars and overalls at Ferrari, though, for deciding to bring their man in when they did, only to see him re-emerge into heavy traffic. “Among the highlights, and every race felt like a highlight after the bore-start in Bahrain, there was that wonderful beginning to his McLaren career by Jenson Button, who won two of his first four races, even though he couldn't keep up the pace, especially in qualifying. “Hamilton once again drove his heart out, and outperformed a car that looked a little too ordinary at times. He was superb in Montreal. Then there was Webber, the Anglophile Aussie who was the favourite among most neutrals to win the title. There was that spectacular crash when he ran into the back of Heikki Kovalainen and the most famous of his four wins, at Silverstone, when he said to his team at the end of the race: 'Not bad for a No2 driver.' “But in the end there was only one German who mattered. It was the remarkable Vettel. This will be the first of a clutch of championships for him.”
The Independent’s David Tremayne focuses on the plight of the other title contenders, writing it is easier to feel more sorry for one than the other.
“It was impossible not to feel for both Webber and Alonso. Yet while a frustrated Alonso gestured at Petrov after the race, the Australian, predictably, refused to complain about his pitstop timing. “A world championship seemed an inevitable part of Sebastian Vettel's future, but it came a little sooner than most expected, after his recent tribulations. You wouldn't bet against several more, and if that record-breaking streak continues, perhaps even Schumacher's achievements will be overshadowed.”
And the Mirror’s Byron Young elaborates further on the petulant behaviour of Fernando Alonso on his slowing down lap after his title dreams ended behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov.
“Fernando Alonso was hurled into more controversy last night for a wild gesture at the former Lada racer who cost him the title. But the Spaniard brushed off accusations he gave Russian Vitaly Petrov the finger for ruining his title hopes by blocking him for 40 laps as they duelled over sixth place. "The Ferrari ace was caught on television cruising alongside the Renault driver on the slowing down lap and gesticulating from the cockpit. Petrov was unrepentant: "What was I supposed to do? Just get out of his way, pull to the side? I don't think that is how we race. It was important for the team for me to get points."

Source: http://blogs.espnf1.com/paperroundf1/archives/2010/11/vettel_set_for_titles_aplenty_1.php

JeanDenis Deletraz Patrick Depailler Pedro Diniz Duke Dinsmore Frank Dochnal