Tifosi77 at Grandprix.com forum wrote:

... we saw yesterday that it took over two minutes for medical personnel to get to Kovalainen's wrecked car. Three years ago, Ralf Schumacher crashed at Indy directly across from the pits and sat in his car for three minutes before any medical assistance arrived.

Contrast those with the accidents of Cristiano da Matta and Katherine Legge, both at Road America in 2006. CdM struck a deer in a testing accident, and was nearly killed. The safety team was on scene in something like 17 seconds. At a test session. Legge's monstrous shunt happened in the race a little later in the year. The safety trucks positioned at the exit of the corner where she shunted were rolling before her car came to a stop. ..

http://www.f1technical.net/news/8976

it looks like the FIA are at least looking into the accident saying that it is very dangerous for an unconcious driver to remain unattended. we used to have the fire danger to deal with in the past. have the FIA forgotten how important quick help is? remember Hakkinen almost died unless the Prof. had performed an emrgency trachetomy on him in time.

in the Spanish GP thread I have proposed that they deploy the medical help by helicopter at the start of the race. the physician could be dropped on spot in something like 20 s instead of 250.

The current system definitely needs an update. I'd hate to have seen the response time had it been raining... All that being said, I must say I felt somewhat comforted watching the track marshalls respond with vigor and the enthusiasm of the medical car to get to the scene, especially while behind the safety car. A far cry from the lacadasical, "I get to seem important on tv" feeling conveyed by the marshalls during Senna's last moments.

The only problem with the helicopter is they'll have to keep it running (idling) the entire race for good response times.

I think the most effective way to alleviate the delay problem is to position a 2ndary medical team (Driver and Dr) 1/2 way around the track. They could also pay Ciro to statistically analyze where the most dangerous parts of each track are and more strategically position the current medical teams...

I know there are major safety issues involved but does anybody know if the medical car is allowed to run opposite to race direction? I'm sure the safety issues can be eliminated with proper planning.

Regards,

H. Kurt Betton