F3 » Palmer: My saddest time in motor racing

Well said JP.

OMG, Brands Hatch is cursed - last year the late Craig Jones passed away, now the young Surtees, rest in peace guys. Both were unlucky, both went away, sadness remains in the hearts.

Nicely put, Jonathan Palmer. To have a young man die at your race track, in your championship, alongside your own son must be heartbreaking, especially when the young man appeared to be as pleasant and well regarded as Henry Surtees.

brands is cursed - what an utterly rediculous and insensitive thing to say. both jonesy and surtees were killed in tragic accidents. i do however agree that both will be missed

Palmer's own son races in F2 turnip,

Turnip- the cars are built to 2005 F1 safety standards, the cockpit protection complies with the 2009 F1 safety standards. So please don't throw comments around about safety. Lets wait for the authorities to do that.

Keith B - yes I know that, and Im sure Palmer knows how safe the cars are before he allowed his son to race it or the FPA for that matter. That very fact helps to colour my judgement.

Turnip,

First things first, the media are not 'in Palmer's pocket' as you so kindly put it.

As I'm sure you have noticed, this article is a statement about the death of an 18-year-old who had a long career ahead of him and most of his life to lead.

Should his family and friends view these boards, the last thing they would want to read is your personal attacks on JP.

As the statement states, full investigations will take place into the accident which - as noted in most places - was a freak incident. Another split second and the wheel would have missed everyone and this tragic situation wouldn't have occurred.

Please have some respect for John, Jane and family when posting.

Matt, Editor

Turnip,

I am not one to deny people their right to free speech, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion - my point being made was that there is a time and a place for the various discussions that will take place following the accident.

In my opinion, an article reflecting on the death of a young driver isn't necessarily the place to do this.

The reference to the accident being a 'freak' isn't so much to do with the wheel coming loose from Jack Clarke's car, but more what happened afterwards. A split second either way and this discussion would not be taking place...

The investigations that will follow will go some way to discovering the reasons why the incident occurred and why the wheel broke away from Jack's car. However, if the cars were not deemed to be safe, they would not have been allowed onto the circuit.

Motorsport is dangerous, we all know that, but I am sure that none of the drivers or their parents/family would have gone out on track if they felt there was any risk other than the risks usually associated with motorsport.

In reference to Palmer's own incident, while tragic, it has nothing to do with what happened at Brands Hatch at the weekend...