Some appreciation for safety improvements in motorsports

[Westheim]

Because that was ******* scary:

Link to graphic video footage

Grosjean allegedly *fine* except for some minor burns.

Maybe the talk about the halo being ugly can FINALLY stop now. If it keeps guys from getting decapitated, I'll take ugly any day.

[La La La Linoleum]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Because that was ******* scary:

Link to graphic video footage

Grosjean allegedly *fine* except for some minor burns.

Maybe the talk about the halo being ugly can FINALLY stop now. If it keeps guys from getting decapitated, I'll take ugly any day.

Yeah this one was as scary as when Robert Wickens hit the wall at Pocono in '18. I appreciated that they could show video of him getting out of the car much sooner because the scariest thing about the Wickens crash was no news for almost an hour. I think F1 should consider the Aeroscreen like Indycar.

[Westheim]

The aeroscreen is not much help with most crashes, except like the sort that killed Justin Wilson.

Red Bull Racing developed that and presented it to the FIA, who rejected it. They probably have their reasons - F1's not cheap anymore when it comes to safety.

Today I also learned that if you drive an F1 car without underwear, you are disqualified. Who checks that?

[Westheim]

Same graphic footage on Youtube

Courtesy warning: turn the volume down; that BBC guy has no feeling FOR VOLUME.

Also - Grosjean voted Driver of the Day, which isn't bad for a guy that didn't make it to the first milestone.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The aeroscreen is not much help with most crashes, except like the sort that killed Justin Wilson.

Red Bull Racing developed that and presented it to the FIA, who rejected it. They probably have their reasons - F1's not cheap anymore when it comes to safety.

Today I also learned that if you drive an F1 car without underwear, you are disqualified. Who checks that?

Man, woman, third option?

[rudel.dietrich]

A lot things worked as designed on this day. The car, the driver safety suit and safety gear and the barrier being strong but also having enough give to break but absorb some energy from the crash while not being rigid enough to kill the driver.
It gave away but at the same time “caught” the car and debris and slowed it down but not hard enough to where the driver would have been killed due to blunt force trauma.

There was a time in the not too distant past where two drivers a year on average were dying each season in Formula 1. We have come a long way to make the sport safer.

[Westheim]

That was the 70s. Francois Cevert and Helmuth Koinigg crashed into guardrails in accidents like today at Watkins Glen, one year apart, and the bottom rail gave way and let most of the car get through, but the top rail didn't......

In the 80s they upgraded it mostly to career-ending injuries. Laffite, Pironi, Streiff...

I don't know people rooted for a guy in the 70s when literal death could be around every corner.

[rudel.dietrich]

This is also a reminder that the Ron Howard movie 'Rush' about Formula 1 in the 1970s is one of the best sports movies of the last decade.
Such a good and entertaining movie.

And the Hans Zimmer soundtrack as always is amazing.

[Westheim]

Huh. I have never seen that.

But I like Hans Zimmer.

[Westheim]

No idea how to link to something specific on Instagram (I'm too old for that stuff...), but the F1 channel has a clip up showing Romain Grosjean in fair mood and condition.

Those paws don't look like ready for racing by Friday, though.

[La La La Linoleum]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The aeroscreen is not much help with most crashes, except like the sort that killed Justin Wilson.

Red Bull Racing developed that and presented it to the FIA, who rejected it. They probably have their reasons - F1's not cheap anymore when it comes to safety.

IIRC there were major issues with visibility when F1 last tested the Aeroscreen, with it warping vision around its edges. It would have certainly helped Massa with the spring that hit him in the head. They have stated that the Halo is not the permanent solution just the next step so I wouldn't be surprised it if was improved or added to in the nearish future especially since the Aeroscreen has had some of its kinks worked out in Indycar.

Originally Posted by Westheim

No idea how to link to something specific on Instagram (I'm too old for that stuff...), but the F1 channel has a clip up showing Romain Grosjean in fair mood and condition.

Those paws don't look like ready for racing by Friday, though.

Thanks for sharing this, its good to see him smiling. I wonder who will stand in at HAAS

[Westheim]

The Massa accident was years before, though. I think the main impetus that got development of the halo going was one of the major start accidents in the Belgian GPs of recent years, which ironically Grosjean started by colliding with Lewis Hamilton, and his car sailed over Fernando Alonso's Ferrari, with a tire missing Alonso's helmet by inches.

The System was thankfully in place by the time Alonso sailed over Charles Leclerc's Sauber car a few years ago in the same corner; the halo was stripped of all livery and coating stuff, scrubbed down to the titanium by the impact, which may or may not have taken Leclerc's head clean off.

(For an instance of an F1 driver taking a rear wheel to the head and walking it off check out the 1994 Brazil crash involving Jos Verstappen, Eddie Irvine, and Martin Brundle, with the latter taking the beating. (I can't bring up Youtube in the office ... ) Unfortunately that was as good as it got for F1 in '94......)

Haas has two reserve drivers in Pietro Fittipaldi, who was in Indycars a few years back? ... and F2 driver Louis Deletraz, who is scheduled to compete in the F2 season finale at the same track next week.

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by Westheim

That was the 70s. Francois Cevert and Helmuth Koinigg crashed into guardrails in accidents like today at Watkins Glen, one year apart, and the bottom rail gave way and let most of the car get through, but the top rail didn't......

What happened to Cevert and Koinigg (if you don't know, you don't want to, it's too gruesome) immediately came to mind with Grosjean's crash. If not for the halo I'm 100% we would have added his name to the list.

[Westheim]

The list is long.

Jackie Stewart was one of the last on the scene of Cevert's accident and said later "They [the marshals] had left him [in the car], because he was so clearly dead." Stewart immediately left the scene of the accident and returned to the pits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Cevert

Stewart pulled out of what would have been his final GP (he had already announced his retirement; Cevert was supposed to be his successor as top dog at Tyrrell), but kept working for safety improvements and remained director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association for many years after.

+++

Unrelated, Pietro Fittipaldi will replace Romain Grosjean this weekend. He has lots of XP in driving backmarker cars, so I see no problems here.

[Jason Moyer]

When I saw the hole in the armco I immediately thought of the Helmut Koenigg crash. Unbelievable that the halo did its job, that he was able to stay conscious after a 53G impact, and that his fire suit held up for that long. Lots of variables that needed to be just right for that to be survivable.

[Westheim]

Speaking of the halo...

[Westheim]

Here's another one.

Guanyu Zhou slid on the rollbar/halo for about 200 meters, then tumbled over the gravel pit and over the tire stacks into some catch fencing. He's said to be "okay" / "conscious" and being evaluated at the infield care center.

[Bub13]

And ironic that it was Albon who ended up going to the hospital, after a much more "conventional" crash.

[Westheim]

And we never heard about it until the race was over.

[Syd Thrift]

I mean, Earnhardt died instantly and that crash looked like nothing to the casual fan…