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or evidence of this look no further than seven years ago, when a suspension spring fell off, Rubens Barrichello’s, Brawn while on a particularly fast straight, and struck a very unprepared Filipe Massa on the head, causing him to crash into a tyre barrier and receive subsequent surgery while in a life-threatening condition. Luckily, Massa was able to recover and carry on racing, but this has not always been the case. Jules Bianchi sadly died in July 2015 at just 25, from head injuries sustained in an accident the previous year. He lost control of his car on extremely
slippery road surface because of adverse weather conditions and crashed into a recovery vehicle. Clearly it would be wrong to speculate on such things, but would better head protection have led to Bianchi having a higher chance of survival? This, along with the sad news of ex-F1 driver Justin Wilson’s passing as a result of similar injuries from a US IndyCar race, has caused F1 drivers to push for better headwear protection for the 2017 season, but too much damage has already been done. Sixty-six years of continuous improvement still hasn’t guaranteed one-hundred percent safety for the drivers, so does the problem lie in the cars, or the sport?
1 drivers have been hotly disputing whether the halo concept should be introduced for 2017. Some are wholeheartedly behind it, such as Nico Rosberg, who said "It is definitely the
right thing to get as soon as possible” and Daniel Ricciardo who said "It doesn't change the sport or the speed of the car. It's just if there are any flying objects it's extra protection for us.” However others have been less enthusiastic and have been very open in their criticism , with Lewis Hamilton describing it as the “worst looking mod” in F1 history and Nico Hulkenburg blasting the look of the device saying that it is not pleasant on the eye and pleading with FIA not to implement .Formula 1 drivers understandably have acknowledged the treachery of their pastime, and there are other extreme sports that carry a similar risk of injury and death, so it can be argued that as long as manufacturers are constantly aiming to improve the safety as well as the performance of the cars, nothing drastic should be done to alter the risk. This is just quite a hard reality to swallow if you have a personally-vested interest in it.
Where do you stand on it? Send your opinion to [email protected] and we’ll publish your comments in our next magazine.
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the sixty-six year old question - How Safe is f1?
The new halo.
Yes or no?