Racing is safer these days because of improvements like the H.A.N.S. system and The Halo. But make no mistake about it: drivers’ lives are at risk every time they venture on the track.
Dr. Wolfgang Von Trips, Jim Clark, Lorenzo Bandini, Jochen Rindt, Helmut Koenigg, Roger Williamson, Francois Cevert, Gilles Villeneuve, and Jules Bianchi were all Formula 1 drivers. And they have one thing in common: they died in accidents between 1961 and 2014.
During those years, safety was hardly mentioned.
Niki Lauda, who himself was nearly killed at the Nurburgring in 1976, once said, “Every year at least two of us die.” Lauda was anxious about that circuit’s conditions, and it was eventually removed from the F1 calendar.
Sir Jackie Stewart, who won the F1 title three times, was a solid supporter of racing safety. That support grew following a terrible accident at Spa in the late 1960s.
Not until the terrible crash and death of three-time world champion Aryton Senna in 1994 did motorsports, in general, began thinking about making the racing cars safer. Improvements that followed included better crumple areas in the cars, grooved tires, and better roll bars. In 2009, tires would return to slicks, but the rest remained.
Michigan State professor Dr. Robert Hubbard invented the H.A.N.S. system (photo, The Drive)
But a new device came out in the early 2000s, made by a company in Atlanta, Georgia. Known as the H.A.N.S. system (the head and neck system), it would protect the neck from being broken. But that didn’t mean all drivers would use it. NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was never a fan of the device, died at Daytona in early 2001. He wasn’t wearing the H.A.N.S. system. But his fatal accident made more drivers, across formulas, believe that wearing the system should be made a requirement. Yes, the system is uncomfortable to wear at first, but as more accidents happened, it became clear that many of the crashes would have been much worse for drivers had they not worn the system.
But it must be remembered that racing is still a dangerous sport. And more needed to be done. For example, Indy car racing put a windscreen on their cars following the terrible accident of Justin Wilson in Michigan. A nosecone from a following car sent debris forward that struck the Englishman, killing him instantly.
Jules Bianchi was killed in 2014 when his car slid into a tractor. The accident was so fierce that when Bianchi struck it, a crane assisting another car off the track lifted a few feet off the ground. Bianchi succumbed a few months later. Because the weather was so foggy that day, the Virtual Safety Car was introduced as a safety measure.
And a new system came along just a few years ago that was put to the test in last weekend’s Grand Prix of Bahrain. The Halo is a device that’s installed above the F1 cockpit. It can protect a driver in case of debris hits the car.
Grosjean crashes in Bahrain (photo, Planet F1)
The device got a full test this past weekend in Bahrain when Romain Grosjean struck the barriers at turn three, splitting his car in half, sending the front cockpit through the barriers, and cutting the so-called safe fuel bladder. Grosjean was traveling 140 miles per hour when he hit the barriers. The car burst into flames. But the Halo stayed strong, and Grosjean climbed out of the car and to safety. Grosjean suffered burns on his hands and feet but survived. Another big reason he survived is that FIA safety marshals acting heroically and did their job the way they were trained.
Felipe Massa also found out why it’s important to be protected that way. A few years ago in Hungary, a large spring shot out from the back of Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn racer and struck Massa in the helmet, knocking him unconscious. Luckily, Massa recovered and raced again.
The Halo got a full test a couple of seasons ago at Spa in Belgium when Charles Leclerc, who at that time was racing for Alfa Romeo, was hit from behind by a wheel from another car. The wheel hit his Halo and produced a skid mark on it. If the Halo had not been there, the wheel might have hit Leclerc, certainly injuring and possibly killing him.
Halo device being tested by Ferrari (photo, Wikipedia)
Along with the Halo, stronger helmets are now in use. The new helmet might have saved Senna’s life had it been available in 1994.
I expect to see more safety improvements made in light of the recent accident in Bahrain. But let us not forget: no matter what is done in the name of safety, drivers take their lives in their hands every time they go onto the track.
