Alex Wurz injured at Valencia testing - Coulthard lucky

[Gerard]

From Autosport:

An incident-packed final day of testing at Valencia saw both drama and the unexpected as the rear wing of David Coulthard’s McLaren-Mercedes failed at over 180 mph, Alex Wurz set the second fastest time of the day before badly injuring his right leg and Benetton team mate Giancarlo Fisichella topped the time sheets.

On day three of preparations for next weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the high-downforce Hungaroring circuit, David Coulthard brought proceedings to an early halt as the rear wing of his McLaren failed on the approach to the first corner of the twisty Valenica circuit.

The mild-mannered Scot attempted to put his MP4-15 into a spin in order to avoid a head-on collision with the barriers. The car span five times before hitting the tyre wall destroying the right front and rear suspension.

Coulthard emerged from the car without apparent injury and made his way back to the pits unaided. Upon arriving at the McLaren garage his only comment was: 'Well I’m definitely awake now.'

The drama did not stop there as Benetton’s Alex Wurz slammed into the tyre wall at one of the Spanish circuit’s tight infield corners 10 minutes before the close of play. The impact - thought to be due to driver error - caused the lower wishbone of the right front suspension to pierce the monocoque of the B200, cutting the Austrian’s leg very close to the bone.

Wurz climbed from the cockpit and immediately collapsed. He was taken to Valencia hospital where X-rays have shown the leg not to be broken. It is unsure whether he will miss next weekend’s Hungarian race.

Before his accident, Wurz had posted the second fastest time of the day just 0.19s behind team mate Fisichella’s lap of 1m15.78s. The Benetton’s topped the time sheets throughout the day and were the only cars to dip below the 1m16s mark.

Third place went to Jos Verstappen in the ever-improving Arrows. The Dutchman concentrated on a high-downforce set-up for Hungary and also carried out testing work on a new Repsol oil. Apparently unfazed by his earlier incident, Coulthard took fourth spot after taking over the car of McLaren test driver Olivier Panis.

As the teams head to Hungary, second placed man in the championship DC, will hope to steer clear of both wing failures and also the dizziness which befell Jean Alesi post Hockenheim. After an incident during which his car span round six times, Alesi suffered stomach pains and vomiting. The Frenchman is however, now said to be fit enough to race next weekend in Budapest.

1 G Fisichella Benetton-Supertec...1m15.78s 39
2 A Wurz Benetton-Supertec.........1m15.97s 38
3 J Verstappen Arrows-Supertec.... 1m16.16s 40
4 D Coulthard McLaren-Mercedes.... 1m16.59s 26
5 L Burti Jaguar.................. 1m16.91s 50
6 E Bernoldi Sauber-Petronas...... 1m17.31 62
7 R Schumacher Williams-BMW....... 1m17.44s 47

[Sparky]

Blimey! Hope Alex is OK. And a McLaren wing failure... Wow.

Just goes to show; expect the unexpected.

[Bononi]

Altough I am feeling a little emotional today, 'cause a book about air battles in WWI, I must say :
"Aren't these guys living in the edge every second ?"

[Minardi fan]

Does this mean Pizzonia will get his F1 debut for Benetton at the Hungaroring???

[Valve Bounce]

I wish they'd give Olivier Panis a run - he is the best driver without a seat in F1 right now.

[Bononi]

Let Pizzonia in... Let's see what he can do...

[Liz]

Would Uncle Ron allow Panis to run in a rival car? Is Alex all right - I heard he was quite seriously hurt and collapsed afterwards. Will he perhaps take this as a graceful way out of a contract that he's just suffering through anyway?

DC, go and have a word with Zonta. Y'all could write a book on hair-raising experiences this season.

[Jay]

From what I have heard, I seriously doubt that Alex will be racing in Hungary.

I might even go as far as to suggest that he might be done in F1.

DC is just lucky.

[f1ciamp]

sounds like mclaren were testing some kinda lite wait wing?

[Don K]

F1ciamp, could you please check your spelling?
Posts like these are impossible to understand for us, non-english speakers.
------
ficiamp wrote:
"sounds like mclaren were testing some kinda lite wait wing?"
"for $50 milion u dont change the paint of the entire car in the big teams i guess thyl pain the side of renault with the coca cola emblom, 50 milion is not enof to kik out happy ferrari sponsors so i dont think it will go to ferrari ,untill tabaco will be totaly baned, then ferrari wil be the idiel for coke "
"... and i dont think toyota will have a good enouf v10 as they mite have had a v12 , well will see what happens, im realy ancsies to see toyotas car!"

[angst]

Yet again carbon suspension injuring a driver. Why do the FIA play with silly ideas like grooved tyres and leave the obvious injurious factors alone. As I mentioned in a previous post, I believe Senna would still be alive if the car he crashed had not had carbon suspension. That's what caused the critical injury, not the impact itself.
DC - Jeez, if there was a funfair ride called The Coulthard you wouldn't want to get on it, would you're heart stand the strain.(Ditto Zonta)

[Crash Test]

Well what sort of suspension to you suggest?

[angst]

Metal suspension units (I'm no technical expert) as used before carbon wishbones. They used to buckle under impact, not shear. As it is at the moment the suspension is not absorbing any of the impact.

[Unknown Soldier]

It's expected that Wurz will be ready to race in the Hungarian G.P. He was told to rest for a couple of days to recover and should be ready to be in the car this weekend.

[Liz]

Alex can't afford to take time off with his career in the precarious state it's in. Anyway remember Fisi won a race with a broken knee! So you can never tell.

Incidentally, I agree about the carbon suspension. Do away with it before it does away with anyone else.

[angst]

OOOWW!!! - Oh you mentioned injured knees. It makes me faint to think about it, soft git that I am...
He won a race with a broken knee?! When? Where? ......HOW?!
Poor Alex, I don't think he could win a race if all his competitors had two broken knees at the moment. What happened there? I mean, he looked 'The business' when he first came into F1.

[Sparky]

OK. How long do you think it will be before the FIA mandates armour-plating to the forward cockpit sides, in the vacinity of the pushrod/wishbone mounting points?

Ralf's prang at Monaco was relatively low speed. Schumachers at Silverstone last year was fast, and I'm sure Wurz's was faster, but penetration protection is needed. Now! (No inuendo, please MinardiFan!)

[Minardi fan]

You are spared this time...

[R]

This was not what Alex needed, but if he is expected to race in Hungary, then his injury is hopefully not serious. And you're right, Angst, he was very impressive when he replaced Berger on a couple of occasions before he had a permanent seat. Is it just because Fisichella is so darn good that Alex looks slow?

And I too am curios about when Fisi won a race with a broken knee. Tell, Liz, don't keep us in suspence!