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Marussia Formula One driver Max Chilton of Britain, centre, and his team members pray for Marussia Formula One driver Jules Bianchi of France who had an accident in the previous race, before the first Russian Grand Prix in Sochi October 12, 2014.Valdrin Xhemaj/Reuters

On tap this week

  • Credibility key in FIA investigation
  • Hinchcliffe memorabilia up for grabs
  • BMW's successful DTM adventure
  • NASCAR's meaningless penalties
  • Quote of the week
  • 1: Life on the Limit premiere coming to Toronto

Two weeks after a devastating accident in the Japanese Grand Prix, 25-year-old Formula One driver Jules Bianchi remains in a Yokkaichi hospital listed in "critical but stable condition."

Marussia driver Bianchi lost control driving about 210 kilometres an hour in soggy conditions at the Suzuka Circuit on lap 42 and crashed into a front-end loader that was recovering another car. Bianchi's head hit the side of the construction vehicle when his car submarined under the back of the loader at considerable speed.

The stark reality is that the Marussia driver could succumb to his injuries at any time. His father said a week ago the family worries every time the phone rings because it could be the hospital telling them he has died. The last F1 driver to perish in a race was Ayrton Senna after a high-speed crash in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

One of the biggest issues is ensuring the sport's governing Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's (FIA) investigation of the accident proceeds in a non-partisan and impartial way. F1 race director Charlie Whiting submitted his preliminary report into the crash to FIA president Jean Todt in Russia last weekend, which essentially exonerated the stewards from any blame. That report was handed to FIA safety commission president Peter Wright who is charged with getting to the bottom of the crash.

The feeling as the FIA gets to work is more than reminiscent of the IndyCar investigation and report into the death of Dan Wheldon in the 2011 season finale at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The subsequent IndyCar report outlined the factors that resulted in Wheldon's death but didn't explore the concerns voiced in the run-up to the race and whether the series could have acted differently and possibly prevented it in the first place.

Four years later, the FIA should strive to ensure that its investigation goes beyond whether its procedures were followed and honestly examine any risks that might have been associated with keeping the race going.

Random thoughts

IndyCar racer James Hinchcliffe will attend a fundraiser on behalf of the Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia Foundation of Canada (WMFC) at Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum on Oct. 25.

It's a family affair for the 27-year-old from Oakville, Ont., who agreed to attend at the behest of his mother, Arlene, whose father passed away from the rare form of cancer that affects white blood cells in bone marrow and lymph nodes. She is also on the foundation's board of directors.

The fundraiser will be of interest to racing fans because the recently signed Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver has donated several items for the silent auction, including a race suit worn in the 2014 Indianapolis 500 and several race-car parts from over the years.

"I'm hoping some of my items will help bolster the money raised on the night and I'd encourage everyone to check out the WMFC website for details and to buy their tickets so they can join what I'm sure will be an entertaining evening," Hinchcliffe said.

The donations will help the foundation as it launches its Imagine A Cure campaign with the goal of raising $1-million in the next five years for more research. The foundation is already funding a two-year research project at the British Columbia Cancer Agency.

Tickets for the event can be purchased online.

By the numbers

It's pretty difficult to argue that BMW hasn't been the class of the field since it rejoined the Duetsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM) Series three years ago. Its return following a two decade hiatus from the German touring car series, and it has netted the manufacturer a slew of wins and titles against its main rivals in the showroom, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.

The manufacturer won its second DTM driver's title this year with Marco Wittmann adding a championship to the one taken by Canada's Bruno Spengler in 2012.

It has swept the manufacturers' championship all three years since 2012, and it also has a pair of team championships. Along the way its drivers have won 15 of the 30 races in the past three seasons, started on pole 13 times, and taken a total of 35 top-three podium finishes. Unsurprisingly, it has also scored the more points than its rivals in the past three years.

Technically speaking

With his win in Talladega on Sunday Brad Keselowski made it though to the next round of NASCAR's Chase for the Cup on the heels of controversy.

A week ago in Charlotte, the 2012 champion used his car as a post-race battering ram in the pitlane before doing burnouts in the close quarters of the garage area beside crew members, media, officials and fans.

NASCAR officials took pictures of the tire marks Keselowski left on the garage floor after the stunt, and while technically he got a penalty for his actions, the punishment could be considered a slap on the wrist: a $50,000 fine and a four-race probation.

Forbes put Keselowski's 2013 income at about $11.4-million, so the money won't likely be missed, and now that he's moved on in the elimination round the probation really doesn't matter much either.

Nobody wants NASCAR to come down hard every time a driver shows emotion – it's a huge part of the show and something the fans demand – but the series needs to draw a line somewhere.

Some might argue the drivers accept the risks of racing in NASCAR, and that includes the frontier justice attitude the sport encourages.

Even if the series feels that ramming another driver in the pit lane after he's removed his seat belts is part of the "boys-have-at-it" mentality, the rest of the scene was arguably not. So, when Keselowski's actions spilled over from the track and he lit up his tires in a garage of bystanders, NASCAR should have considered coming down harder.

Quote of the week

"In any Chase, after two bad races like we had the last two weeks, you wouldn't have a shot at the championship. So, the frustration was kind of peaking over the last two weeks. This week's been chill. We qualified second and ran up front all day. And it's so hard to win one of these races. You can't come in here and say you're going to dominate Talladega and win the race. We dominated it. We just didn't lead the lap that counted."

Six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson after his 24th-place finish in the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday eliminated him from title contention in the new knockout round Chase for the Cup format.

The last word

The Regent Theatre in Toronto will host the Canadian premiere of the Formula 1 documentary 1: Life on the Limit on Nov. 7 to 9. The film takes fans through the history of safety in F1 – at times the lack of it – and how deadly accidents shaped change in the sport that has made it far less dangerous.

Several former F1 drivers from the deadly years appear, including safety crusader and three-time word champion Jackie Stewart, who figures prominently in the film, as well as racers from today's generation who owe a huge debt to their counterparts of past decades.

As with the filmmakers who created the compelling Senna documentary in 2010, 1 director Paul Crowder received permission from F1 ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone to use footage found in the Formula One Management vault. The film is narrated by rabid gearhead and actor Michael Fassbender.

1 doesn't shy away from showing scenes from some of the more gruesome accidents in a time when the sport simply accepted the fact that several drivers would be killed or seriously injured every year.

One of the most gripping sequences is the accident that took the life of Roger Williamson in the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort and put an intense spotlight on F1's lax approach to safety.

The Englishman crashed eight laps into the Dutch Grand Prix with his burning car coming to a rest upside down with Williamson trapped under it. At the time, F1 safety crews were ill-equipped to deal with any accident and no rescue personnel or fire extinguishers were close at hand.

As Williamson's March burned, fellow driver David Purley stopped at the scene and tried to help get him out from under the car. With the marshals standing around and watching, Purley could not overturn the car alone nor could he put the flames out with the one fire extinguisher he could find.

Williamson was dead when the fire truck finally arrived eight minutes after his accident.

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