Talk:Riccardo Paletti

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I watched this race and remember with great sorrow the startline accident. Paletti was following the other cars away from the line and, when those in front of him swerved at the last second to avoid Pironi's stationary Ferrari, he plowed straight into the back of Pironi. Later on, people would suggest that Paletti's inexperience was a major factor in the accident, the fact is that he didn't have time to react to the situation. The Osella's fuel tank ruptured some time before the fire started. On the CBC feed, Niki Lauda (interviewed before the restart) began to complain about the slow attention of the track marshalls to the accident. In particular, he focused on the fact that the marshalls had not begun spraying down the spilled fuel before it ignited - the suggestion being that a blanket of retardant might have prevented the fire. He was quickly cut off by the CBC interviewer, and the network then broke away to a different interview. As Paletti had severe physical injuries unrelated to the fire (though medical reports afterward suggested he had lung damage associated with the fire), it seems likely he would not have survived the accident even absent the fire, so perhaps Lauda's comments were not completely fair. Marshalling and safety were woeful during this period in Formula One. Lauda himself had nearly died in a terrible accident only a few years earlier. In addition to the generally poor safety precautions, one must acknowledge that the Osella team produced terribly poor racing cars during the early 1980's, and that the poor design and maintenance of the Osella racing car also played a role in the accident. Earlier in the year, both Jarier and Paletti had indicated a complete lack of confidence in their cars. One only need look at the retirement record of the team to see that wheels (and other parts) fell off with alarming regularity. Posthocergopropterhoc (talk) 20:34, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

His 50th birthday coming up on the 15th; Captndelta (talk) 08:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)