F1 must find answers to safety crisis after Bearman’s escape but there are no easy fixes | Giles Richards
Oliver Bearman emerging unhurt from a huge accident at the Japanese Grand Prix was considered a lucky escape,Formula One must think it is catching a break given there is a full month to work out how best to mitigate against it happening again,It is going to need every minute of that time given the complexity of the problem,Bearman’s Haas car was travelling at 307kmh (191mph) when he was forced to veer off track as he came up behind the relatively slow-moving Alpine of Franco Colapinto,The closing speed between the two cars was 50kmh, a frightening pace.
The scenario was one many had been warning about before the season had even begun,With the deployment of electrical energy, and its subsequent recovery now an integral part of F1, Bearman was using his boost mode while Colapinto was recovering energy, hence the big difference in speed,There was no underhand behaviour,Colapinto was on a defensive line as they came round the right-hand curve toward Spoon corner, but he did not cut across,Bearman simply came up on him so fast he had to swerve off the track to avoid hitting him.
He did so and then piled into the barriers with a 50G impact from which he remarkably emerged with only some bruising, although his car was in pieces.His team principal, Ayao Komatsu, said it had been a lucky escape and he was right.If Bearman had hit the rear of Colapinto’s car there was every chance he could have been catapulted into the air and suffered a far more violent crash, as well as Colapinto taking a big impact.Equally, as the Williams driver Carlos Sainz said, it was lucky it happened at Suzuka where there was wide space and run-off for Bearman to take to before he hit the barriers.What, Sainz wondered, would have been the result on high-speed circuits such as Baku, Singapore or Las Vegas, where walls that are feet away, rather than grass and gravel, delineate the track.
He was not alone in a criticism that has been aired repeatedly this season.Nor has it been ignored.The FIA has been clear it is closely monitoring and assessing every aspect of the new regulations, with particular attention to their impact on safety, which is always the governing body’s first priority.It has been assiduous in this over the first three races.There was always going to be an examination and discussion of changes after the opening meetings.
Fortunately, with the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix and the next round not for five weeks in Miami, there is time to give the problem the full attention of everyone involved – the FIA, F1, teams, engine manufacturers and drivers.They have their work cut out.The McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, summed it up best.“I don’t think a simple solution exists,” he said, with a typically astute engineer’s evaluation.He was not alone.
Komatsu said: “I don’t know what the solution is just yet, but we just have to be calm and discuss it all together as an F1 community,”The views align because it is so complicated,No part of the new engine regulations exists in a vacuum,Changes in one area affect others, while each engine manufacturer also has its vested interests, although to be fair these would probably be shelved for a clear issue of safety,At its heart is the use of the electrical energy, which has divided so many in the sport, and the complex analysis of data that comes with it.
Changes on how much energy can be recovered when super-clipping – charging the battery while at full throttle – have been mooted, but this would slow the cars more.It had been set at a lower level to try to avoid such a differential.The counterargument posits that allowing a higher rate under super-clipping would negate the need for drivers to lift and coast, the situation that creates an even greater speed differential against a following car that is deploying energy.There are cause-and-effect complications here of labyrinthine complexity, not least because teams take different approaches to how and where they manage their energy.Nor, as has been suggested, can the sport simply increase the internal combustion engine power output and lessen the role the hybrid energy plays.
Changing the power distribution from the almost 50-50 split to, for example, 70-30 would require increasing the fuel flow, and thus bigger fuel tanks, in turn meaning a redesign of the car.Nor would it necessarily be agreed, given the split was the formula designed to attract back engine manufacturers such as Audi and Honda.If that is to be the direction of travel it will almost certainly not come until next season at the earliest.There is at least a genuine agreement and will to deal with it, especially after Bearman’s crash.Equally, there is no shortage of sharp minds now focused on the issue, a real positive in what is so often a competitive atmosphere.
The challenge is that F1 is now adapting as the season progresses and each event presents a new test, so there is no little pressure to get it right, rather than be at the mercy of another lucky escape.
How to make Easter chocolate nests – recipe. | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
Much as I love Easter eggs – and I really do, despite being that irritating person still nibbling away at them at Christmas time – these charming, crunchy little nests full of colourful treasure are up there with hot cross buns as my favourite seasonal produce. Top tip: they’re even easier to make if you enlist a small sous chef or two to help stir the pan!Prep 20 min Cook 5 minChill 2 hr Makes About 1280g Shredded Wheat (about 3½ full-sized ones), or other cereal (see step 1)75g dark chocolate (see step 3)100g milk chocolate 35g butter, or vegan alternative50g golden syrup 1 pinch salt ¼ tsp mixed spice (optional)Finely grated zest of ¼ orange (optional)36 miniature chocolate eggs (about 115g)Shredded Wheat (or another brand of similar cereal) is not the only choice here: you could substitute corn or bran flakes, puffed rice, Weetabix and so on, but it does look the most authentically twig-like. Try to get the big ones, if possible, because it’s all too easy to crush the bite-size variety to dust.Break the Shredded Wheat into pieces (leave flaked cereals, puffed rice and so on whole, and crumble Weetabix) in a large bowl – use your hands, the end of a flat rolling pin or glass, or the bottom of a smaller bowl to do this, and aim for a variety of lengths, rather than crushing the cereal to smithereens.Almost any chocolate will work here (this is, in fact, a great use of last year’s Easter eggs or Christmas chocolate, if you still have some left), though be careful with white chocolate, which doesn’t always melt well
The Wellington, Margate, Kent: ‘Worth risking a werewolf attack to get to’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
The ever-changing menu is a paean to things that make me happyThe Wellington has been drawing crowds to Margate of late, due to a recent takeover by chef Billy Stock and front-of-house queen Ellie Topham. Stock is formerly of nearby Sète, which I loved very much, and also cooked at London’s The Marksman and St John, which is a pedigree that says: “I like feeding people proper food, not fancy, itsy-bitsy suggestions of food.” So with that, I set off to the south-east Riviera on a day when the weather ranged from hailstones to simply freezing gales.Much is said about Margate being freshly desirable, hip and charming, but on a freezing day at the tail end of winter, this seaside town certainly tests the prescription of one’s rose-tinted spectacles. None of the down-from-London brigade cries, “Let’s move to Margate!” as icy hail plink-plonks off their nose while they cower in the door of the Turner Contemporary
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Five Guys’ chief executive officer, Jerry Murrell, said he gave a $1.5m bonus to employees of his US-based burger restaurant chain because “I didn’t want anybody shooting me” after the company recently “screwed … up” a buy-one-get-one-free promotion.Murrell did not elaborate on the comment, which he gave to Fortune in an interview published on Wednesday – but it came a little more than a year after the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a midtown Manhattan street in what was widely considered a murderous rebuke of the US health insurance industry’s profit-driven practices.Fortune’s conversation with Murrell revisited a two-for-one promotion that Five Guys organized in February to celebrate its 40th anniversary that proved to be much more popular than the chain expected. Five Guys’ app crashed as customers sought to take advantage of the promotion, and many overwhelmed chain locations discontinued the offer early, inviting backlash on social media
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Hospitality is in a right state at the moment, what with the seemingly never-ending shitshow of rising rents and rates, extortionate VAT, higher staffing, produce and utility costs, and all those other well-documented socioeconomic pressures (don’t mention the Bre*it word, please). So the last thing those of us who work in this beleaguered industry need right now is to be kicked in the proverbials by the very people we rely on perhaps more than anyone. And, yes, by that I mean you, our lovely customers. So here is some advice on how to avoid infuriating your serving staff.Turn up … Pre-Covid, most restaurants didn’t have the balls to take card details or charge for late cancellations and no-shows, but that’s all changed now (thank God)
Is foraging really feasible to feed myself?
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Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for lemon lamington cake | The sweet spot
I think lamingtons should be much more popular than they are on this side of the world. One of my go-to coffee shops is Aussie-run and they always have a proud display of chunky, jam-filled, chocolate- and coconut-coated lamingtons. Making them isn’t complicated, just a little messy with all the filling and dipping of multiple cubes of cake in different bowls. In an attempt to streamline the process, and because giant versions of anything are always fun, I’ve made one extra-large lamington. It’s a wonderfully soft sponge, covered in lemon curd ganache and filled with plenty of cream, making for a very pretty Easter centrepiece
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