Geoffrey Harris•7 Oct 2014

NEWS

MOTORSPORT: F1 saves one driver, loses another

Jules Bianchi has survived the crash that ended the drenched Japanese GP, but the man who drove more F1 races than anyone without winning one is dead. And Penske gets hotter in NASCAR

Hamilton a little further ahead, early end denies Ricciardo podium

Formula One has avoided what so easily might have been its first driver fatality since the death of Ayrton Senna 20 years ago, but a veteran of the sport has been killed in a motorcycle crash.

French driver Jules Bianchi is in a critical condition with a severe head injury after the crash that shortened the treacherously-wet Japanese Grand Prix, and will require surgery a second time soon at a hospital near the Suzuka circuit. It's a far more positive picture than it seemed immediately post-race.

However, Italian Andrea de Cesaris, who raced in more GPs without winning one than any other driver, has died in a motorcycle crash in Rome, aged 55. Ironically nicknamed "Andrea de Crasheris", he started more than 200 F1 races in a 15-year career and was on the podium five times, including two second places in 1983 for Alfa-Romeo.

Amid the grim news, Lewis Hamilton has stretched his world championship lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to 10 points after his eighth win of the season – and one of the best of his career, including a brilliant overtake of Rosberg around the outside of Suzuka's sweeping first turn.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was running third when the race was red-flagged after Bianchi's out-of-control Marussia car hit a heavy recovery vehicle trying to move Adrian Sutil's Sauber that had crashed at the same spot a lap earlier.

Ricciardo was relegated to fourth, behind departing Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel, when the results were declared based on the last completed lap. More on F1 below.

Penske's young NASCAR ace wins again

In other international motorsport, the Penske operation preparing to enter Australia's V8 Supercar Championship has won for the third time in just four rounds of The Chase for NASCAR's Sprint Cup title. And French rally world champion Sebastien Ogier could not wrap up a second straight championship at his home event as his Finnish teammate Jari-Matti Latvala notched his first success on tarmac.

Russia's Lada has chalked up its first victory in a World Touring Car Championship race after six years of trying. That victory was delivered by British driver Rob Huff, the 2012 WTCC champion with Chevrolet, in a reverse grid race in Beijing.

Penske's latest NASCAR success was at Kansas Speedway, where 24-year-old Joey Logano not only scored his second win in this year's Chase but his third victory in the past seven Sprint Cup rounds and his fifth of the season.

Australia's Marcos Ambrose, who will drive for the Penske-Dick Johnson team in the V8 Supercar series next year, finished 20th at Kansas in a Ford Fusion similar to Logano's but entered by Richard Petty Motorsports.

Penske's 2012 Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski was 36th and 45 laps down after hitting the speedway's wall when a right front tyre punctured.

Dale Earnhardt Junior's Chevrolet also hit the wall and he wound up 39th and 63 laps down, while six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson got tangled in a four-car incident and finished 40th and 87 laps down.

Next Saturday's NASCAR round at Charlotte Motor Speedway will be the only night race of The Chase.

Sebastien Ogier's Rally of France was ruined on the opening day by a gear-sensor problem in his Volkswagen Polo R and then a four-minute penalty for arriving at a stage start point early.

However, VW still finished first and second with Jari-Matti Latvala winning all but one of the 18 stages in the Alsace region to finish almost 45 seconds ahead of Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, whose second place was his best WRC result.

Britain's Kris Meeke was third in a Citroen, more than a minute behind Latvala, while Polish former F1 driver Robert Kubica was on course for fourth, which would have been his best WRC finish, before spinning his Ford into a ditch on the final powerstage.

While Ogier did not finish among the top 10 he picked up the maximum three points from the powerstage.

Ogier takes a 27-point lead over Ogier to the penultimate round in Spain, where he can clinch his second world title if he outscores his teammate.

Suzuka a reminder of motor racing's dangers

Many questions have been raised in the wake of the Japanese GP, but while all fellow drivers were concerned for 25-year-old Jules Bianchi after his crash, most felt it had been right to race in the rain from looming Typhoon Phanfone.

However, Brazilian Felipe Massa, who suffered a fractured skull when a spring from a car ahead of him hit his helmet at the 2009 Hungarian GP, felt the race should have been stopped before Adrian Sutil and Bianchi crashed at the same corner a lap apart as the rain worsened and light faded.

"I was already screaming on the radio five laps before the safety car [came out after Bianchi's crash] that there was too much water on the track," Williams driver Massa said.

"They took too long [to bring out the safety car] and it was dangerous, so we saw that there were some crashes at the end."

Sutil said the deteriorating light had made it more difficult to spot patches of standing water on the track as the rain worsened.

"We got more rain and it was dark, so visibility was getting less and less – and this corner was a tricky one the whole way through. You couldn't see where the wet patches were," Sutil said.

But only two cars crashed in the soaking conditions and other drivers said they had known worse conditions.

"I've had much worse races in terms of aquaplaning," said Lewis Hamilton, who was 16 seconds in front of Rosberg when the race was stopped but little more than nine seconds ahead in the race classifications taken from the last completed lap.

Niki Lauda, the great Austrian driver now chairman of the Mercedes team and who famously withdrew – just months after the fiery crash that almost killed him – from the wet 1976 GP at Fuji that handed James Hunt his world title, felt Sunday's race had been properly run.

While he had wanted it to start earlier (impractical because of the global TV schedule) and said there was a case for the safety car to be activated as soon as Sutil crashed, he felt officials had done the right things but that Bianchi's crash was a reminder that F1 was a dangerous sport.

"Motor racing is dangerous. We get used to it when nothing happens, and then suddenly we are all surprised," Lauda said.

"But we always have to be aware that motor racing is always dangerous – and this accident is a coming together of various different things.

"One car goes off, the [recovery] truck comes out and the next car comes off – and this was very unfortunate."

The essence of the problem was that the recovery vehicle was inside the fence rather than being able to lift a wrecked car from outside the fence as at many places at many other circuits.

Bianchi hitting such a heavy vehicle was worse than his car making contact with a safety fence.

Bianchi has been groomed through the Ferrari Academy and placed at the lowly Marussia team, which uses Ferrari engines, to gain experience.

The highlight of his career has been ninth place in this year's Monaco GP, the two points he scored the first for Marussia in its five seasons in the sport and reportedly worth about $50 million to the team provided it remains ahead of rival Caterham at the end of the season – now four races away in Abu Dhabi.

Grave fears were held for Bianchi's life on Sunday night, with the podium celebrations muted – Hamilton, Rosberg and Vettel barely clinking the champagne bottles.

As sympathies were expressed for the injured Frenchman, popular among his peers, Daniel Ricciardo said: "Right now we're all thinking about Bianchi – that's the biggest concern for us. It's not nice when we don't know if the driver is OK [after a big crash]."

Hamilton's 30th GP victory leaves him just one win behind Nigel Mansell's record by a British driver.

But a horror season for Ferrari got worse as it failed to score a world championship point after a record run of 81 successive races in the points.

Fernando Alonso retired his Ferrari soon after the second start behind the safety car with an electrical problem – "The car switched off ... maybe some water in some connections," he said – and Kimi Raikkonen endured balance problems and struggled with the tyres on his similar car.

Exasperated Alonso felt it was another opportunity lost. The tough conditions would have suited the Spanish master against rivals in superior machinery.

After almost five seasons without a world title at the Italian team, Alonso is preparing to extricate himself from his contract two years early to go elsewhere in search of a third crown.

Vettel will take his place at Ferrari, although that is not official yet, and an announcement surely will be forthcoming soon that Alonso will reunite with McLaren and have Honda power behind him next season.

Formula One World Championship driver standings after 15 of 19 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 266 points; 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 256; 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 193; 4. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 139; 5. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 133; 6. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams-Mercedes) 130; 7. Jenson Button (Great Britain, McLaren-Mercedes) 82; 8. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 76; 9. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 71; 10. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 46; 11. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 45; 12. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, McLaren-Mercedes) 39; 13. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Renault) 21; 14. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 8; 15. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Renault) 8; 16. Jules Bianchi (France, Marussia-Ferrari) 2.

F1 Constructors' Championship standings – 1. Mercedes 522 points; 2. RedBull-Renault 332; 3. Williams-Mercedes 201; 4. Ferrari 178; 5. Force India-Mercedes 122; 6. McLaren-Mercedes 121; 7. Toro Rosso-Renault 29; 8. Lotus-Renault 8; 9. Marussia-Ferrari 2.

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver standings – 1. Joey Logano (Ford) 3048 points; 2. Kyle Busch (Toyota) 3042; 3. Carl Edwards (Ford) 3039; 4. Ryan Newman (Chevrolet) 3039; 5. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 3037; 6. Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet) 3033; 7. Matt Kenseth (Toyota) 3031; 8. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 3031; 9. Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet0 3023; 10. Brad Keselowski (Ford) 3009; 11. Dale Earnhardt Junior (Chevrolet) 3006; 12. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 3004; 13. A.J. Allmendinger (Chevrolet) 2110; 14. Greg Biffle (Ford) 2101; 15. Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) 2075; 16. Aric Almirola (Ford) 2074. Australia's Marcos Ambrose (Ford) is 23rd on 726 points.

World Rally Championship driver standings – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen Motorsport) 217 points; 2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen Motorsport) 190; 3. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Volkswagen Motorsport II) 143; 4. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) 93; 5. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Hyundai World Rally Team) 83; 6. Kris Meeke (Great Britain, Citroen Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 82; 7. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Citroen Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 80; 8. Elfyn Evans (GB, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) 71. Australia's Chris Atkinson is 18th with 7 points from just two events with the Hyundai World Rally Team.

WRC team standings – 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 373 points; 2. Citroen Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 175; 3. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 164; 4. Hyundai World Rally Team 157; 5. Volkswagen Motorsport II 127.

Picture: Bianchi practising at Suzuki, October 3 - courtesy of jules-bianchi.com/Facebook

MOTORSPORT: F1 saves one driver, loses another

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