F1: Drivers Pushing for Greater Head Protection for 2017 Onwards

[Ghoults]

Whichever option is chosen I hope it is chosen soon enough. While Bianchi's accident was probably too brutal for the cockpit structure to survive this still could have saved wilson, surtees and de villota. This might have also saved massa from his injury. It has happened enough many times to not be a freak accident and it will happen again. We have had too many close calls too. We have been lucky there have not been more injuries and deaths.

At this point it should be all about choosing the right way to go about it. Clearly there is an issue and clearly there are solutions. It should not be anymore about should we or should we not. It is about how. It is a choise between two things. Do you want to see drivers killed and injured? Or do you want to see some kind system that prevents the death and injuries? History has proven that it is very much this or that. Serious head injuries will continue to occur unless we do something to stop them.

 

[Andy_J]

I wasn't aware that the union of millionaire F1 drivers were a bunch of raging liberal pansies.

Now you are.

 

[jonelsorel]

Greater head protection? Sure! But would any solution - one from Merc or canopy - would have saved Jules Bianchi's or Maria da Villota's lives, to name the most recent? That's a big no, if you remember the crashes. Back to solutions, the one from Merc is downright stupid, let alone dangerous, as it obstructs the driver's view by being smack in the middle of it. Then again the drivers should be the first ones to come up with a solution since they're the ones at risk, and see how the sport comes out of it (fans included). And if they feel like they're just risking too much by being in F1, there's always lower formulas or touring cars. Or simracing.

There's hundreds and maybe thousands of good drivers that would give everything to have a chance at the "king of motorsport" as it is today, with all its dangers, and those 20 or so who are already there want to change it. Cute what this professional sport has become.

 

[Ghoults]

If the sport can spend hundreds of millions in a year to build one off race cars for millionaires to drive around paved desert parking lots then it has enough money to design cars with appropriate head protection so the drivers don't need to die or get injured. There is nothing cute about dead race car drivers.

 

[Wizbiscuit]

Do us all a favor and just replace all the dull drivers with robots... be more fun to watch...

All the current drivers can then get jobs at McDonalds... Though then they would only cook burgers of they had full fire retarded outfits...

 

[Ben Lee]

Anyone that stands up against another "safety push" instantly becomes the most unpopular person in the room.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

I for one, would welcome a future where F1 cars look like jet fighters.
Jet fighters are cool.

(Yes I realize that I could be making better arguments then this but still. Jet fighters)

 

[Alx^]

If they want less danger, they should get less danger money. Dramatically less. It's as simple as that, far as I'm concerned. Then you'll see the drivers true colours, when they all either change their minds, or go ahead with it and then quit to go to a different sport so they can continue earning a fortune. Hopefully in the case of Alonso and Button, they go and join their mate Webber.

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

In any extreme sport there will always be a fatality or even death...This is fact..nothing is 100% safe,too many variables to consider..Yes we can learn,try and make things better,improve on designs..On the yellow flag debate what about implimenting a safety switch which automatically sends a signal to the car engine slowing it down to a safe sensible speed,like a type of govenor until the problem is dealt with..Jules Bianchi might still be al;ive today if this was the case???

 

[Philip Heck]

In any extreme sport there will always be a fatality or even death...This is fact..nothing is 100% safe,too many variables to consider..Yes we can learn,try and make things better,improve on designs..On the yellow flag debate what about implimenting a safety switch which automatically sends a signal to the car engine slowing it down to a safe sensible speed,like a type of govenor until the problem is dealt with..Jules Bianchi might still be al;ive today if this was the case???

True, but that won't save you from flying debris.

It's quite easy in my book:

Canopy/Windshield/Whatever:
Could it save lives? - Yes.
Does it change the sport? - No.
- So go on and implement it.

Reducing race speed to 40mph max. (Thank you @Andy Jackson):
Could it save lives? - Yes.
Does it change the sport? - Yes.
- Are you mad?

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

In any extreme sport there will always be a fatality or even death...This is fact..nothing is 100% safe,too many variables to consider..Yes we can learn,try and make things better,improve on designs..On the yellow flag debate what about implimenting a safety switch which automatically sends a signal to the car engine slowing it down to a safe sensible speed,like a type of govenor until the problem is dealt with..Jules Bianchi might still be al;ive today if this was the case???

The 24h series does something like this with their "Code 60" system, where everybody is supposed to drive at 60KPH untill the green flag is waved. However, a system that remotely cuts the car's engine might be a bit too far, especially if a driver is in the middle of taking a corner, relying on power-on-oversteer to make it, and suddenly sees the power drop, causing them to understeer.

 

[Philip Heck]

The 24h series does something like this with their "Code 60" system, where everybody is supposed to drive at 60KPH untill the green flag is waved. However, a system that remotely cuts the car's engine might be a bit too far, especially if a driver is in the middle of taking a corner, relying on power-on-oversteer to make it, and suddenly sees the power drop, causing them to understeer.

Formula E does use something like this where the engine's power output is reduced. So apparently it does work.
That is also the reason I never understood the introduction of the VSC in F1 when FE had that other (and imho better) system before and it's also a FIA-series ... So just use that then.

 

[Qazdar Karim]

I don't mind cokcpit protection, but teams should review their drivers' salary in this case ...

 

[Philip Heck]

I don't mind cokcpit protection, but teams should review their drivers' salary in this case ...

They should do that anyway.

 

[Dave Stephenson]

I understand your frustration in this matter but can you tell me how to make the Isle of Man TT races safer? How about the Ulster GP or the Dundrod races? How about all the other real motorcycle races on real roads with trees, lamp posts, stone walls etc? Can you tell me how to make them safer?
Just tell me what they can do. OK?

The point there is that the riders on the TT accept the risk. In this instance the drivers are choosing, unanimously, to not accept the risk.

 

[Andy_J]

The point there is that the riders on the TT accept the risk. In this instance the drivers are choosing, unanimously, to not accept the risk.

I understand that Dave, so if it was up to me I would tell them to accept the risk or not bother. Just like the TT riders have to do.

 

[jonelsorel]

If the sport can spend hundreds of millions in a year to build one off race cars for millionaires to drive around paved desert parking lots then it has enough money to design cars with appropriate head protection so the drivers don't need to die or get injured. There is nothing cute about dead race car drivers.

I think these millionaire drivers KNEW what they got into BEFORE getting into it. And I think it's a little naive to package it as a money issue. Drivers die and get injured in ALL SORTS of cars no matter how "safe" they become, period. If you want that to stop completely, push for robots, remotely driven cars or simracing. That should COMPLETELY solve the danger to life issue. And let everybody - drivers, track owners, sheiks, rights holders, etc - make their millions that way if they can, since you point it out. I think the people owning hence profiting most from this sport have a pretty good idea that pushing this way may get their income decreased. Those people worry so much about income that they even think of making cars louder these days, just to point out where their priorities stand. Nobody whined this much about the danger of the sport in the 60s, when neither tracks nor cars had the safety found today, not even by a mile. Grip was all mechanical up until 1968, no seatbelts, no fences, and drivers weren't paid millions a season, sometimes prizes being symbolic. And enthusiasm was at its peak for all those involved in the sport and fans alike. I voted "yes" in the poll, but what exactly killed the last 2 F1 drivers mentioned in my previous post? Their cars being unsafe? Or did they just hit something that wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place? Do you really think a titanium (or adamantium) canopy would've made a difference?

 

[Allan Ramsbottom]

whats to say the debris from a broken windshield/screen causes extra fatalities???..we could argue the point all day saying this and that,but open wheel cockpit racing in F1, imo must stay...

 

[dineontitan]

whats to say the debris from a broken windshield/screen causes extra fatalities???..we could argue the point all day saying this and that,but open wheel cockpit racing in F1, imo must stay...

Well, one requirement for it has got to be that it actually survives a crash. If it doesn't installing it on a car would be inappropriate.

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

Nobody whined this much about the danger of the sport in the 60s, when neither tracks nor cars had the safety found today, not even by a mile.

People whined constantly about the danger of the sports in the 60s, which is why we have have these safety features to begin with. Spa Francorchamps was closed down at the end of the 60s because of these protests. The Le Mans start was famously protested by Jacky Ickx, who proved the nonsensicallity of it by walking to his car and subsequently winning the race, after which Le Mans style running starts were banned. Drivers pushing to make motorsport safer is as old as drivers dying in motorsport.