“You have to be respectful of the fact that obviously the investigation will be very thorough and will take some time to probably get answers in general,” four-time Formula 1 champion and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel said on Dec. According to the FIA, an investigation is under way and is expected to take up to two months. The steel guardrail pierced by Grosjean’s car will likely come under the microscope. This crash will likely result in more changes to the track safety manuals. The FIA work is not always accepted without a fight, as was the case with the HANS (head and neck support) device, which was introduced in 2003, and again with the halo which Mosley’s successor Jean Todt forced the sport to accept in 2018. Then-FIA-president Max Mosley asked Watkins to establish a research group to carry out a comprehensive review of all F1 safety, and the group adopted an evidence-based approach to solving problems. And then came the Italian Grand Prix at Imola in 1994, and the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna. New technology, such the carbon fiber monocoque and fuel cells transformed the structural integrity of F1 cars, and the risks of fire and cockpit integrity faded.įormer F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone recruited professor Sid Watkins in 1978 to oversee medical response, and that side of the sport improved to such an extent that no F1 driver died in a Grand Prix car at a race between 19.Įlio de Angelis was killed in a crash during a test session at Paul Ricard Circuit in France in 1986, but at that time testing did not adhere to the same safety regulations as racing. This began to change because of campaigns by the drivers, led early on by three-time F1 champion Jackie Stewart, to improve the situation. Medical help was little more than ill-equipped ambulances. In the 1960s and early 1970s, the FIA showed little or no interest in safety at a time when fatalities were frequent and when seat belts were relatively new, barriers were often just hay bales. “That (Grosjean) was soon able to post a smiling interview from his hospital bed is because since 1994, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) applied a ‘Vision Zero’ approach to safety.” “Neither luck nor divine intervention was the reason he survived,” said David Ward, a former longtime director general of the FIA Foundation, which organized much of the research work into motor racing safety through the FIA Institute. The sport, on the other hand, escaped with a near miss. Ultimately, it will be up to the FIA to determine what went right and, more important, what went wrong in that first-lap crash at the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix. Those words are nowhere in the safety handbooks and guidelines. Luck and miracles are not what the FIA Safety Department wants to rely on. 29.Īfter all, how else can even the most ardent race fan or driver possibly explain how Grosjean extricated himself from an inferno-engulfed F1 race car in 28 seconds and walked away-with a little aid, of course-with just burns on the back of both hands?
F1 DRIVER CAMERA SOFTWARE
The level of sophistication now used by the FIA’s safety engineers set standards for barrier placement, using software that has been specifically designed to predict what is best in terms of barriers, given the risks involved.įans and even racers use words like “miracle” and “lucky” to describe Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean’s great escape from a horrific crash into a steel guardrail and the resulting fireball on the first lap of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on Nov.In the 1960s and early 1970s, the FIA showed little or no interest in safety at a time when fatalities were frequent and when seat belts were relatively new.Racing safety devices include the helmet, HANS, safety harness, protective clothing, survival cell, headrest, in-car extinguisher system, and the halo, but also track barriers.
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