OK, let’s look at safety and deaths in F1. Rob_lewis implied that the golden age of F1 was dangerous and that we are complaining of safety measures making F1 more boring. I disagree, I don’t think anything that has changed for safety has had a negative impact on ‘the spectacle’ Let’s look back over the last 40 years starting in 73.
Roger Williamson Zandvoort. Tire failure (which we had in 2013 to try and make for a better show), so yes you can argue this one, although the tires then weren’t artificially crap as they were this year. Also once the car flipped it burst into flames, better fire prevention and suppression doesn’t diminish the show unless you are morbid. Inexcusably bad marshals with poor equipment didn’t try to save him. Good marshals don’t diminish the show.
Cevert Watkins Glen. Qualifying accident. Poor structural safety of the tub and crappy barriers killed him by coming loose. Stronger tubs and barriers that came loose to not affect the spectacle or the ability of people to race.
Revson Kyalami 74. Suspension failure. Parts that last make the show better not worse
Helmuth Koinigg Watkins Glen 74. E36 M3ty Armco again as with Cevert, although this time even more gruesome as it decapitated the poor guy.
Donohue Osterreichring 75. Tire failure again. But as will Williamson poor tires were an accident not like today where they were by design.
Tom Pryce Kyalami 77, probably the most pointless death in ‘recent’ F1 history. A marshal ran across the track past a blind brow so poor Pryce hit him at full speed and his head was crushed by the 40lb fire extinguisher the marshal (also killed) was carrying.
Brian McGuire, non-championship Brands hatch F1 race 1977, practice accident a half-shaft failure, flipped and crashed unduly hard against the barriers the car was destroyed and a marshal was also tragically killed. Again making cars stronger and improving track safety doesn’t reduce the spectacle.
Ronnie Peterson, Monza 77. Multi car accident. What really killed him was poor medical attention. An embolism from his crushed legs got to his brain. Prof Sid Watkins was very upset about this one if you read his book. Again, making safer stronger cars doesn’t reduce the show.
Patrick Depailler, testing at Hockenheim 1980. This was also really really stupid. Suspension failure, probably due to the massive loads put on by the still developing ground effect cars lead to a crash. He ended up upside down on the Armco, even worse, the catch fencing that could have slowed the car and saved him was for some unfathomable reason rolled up behind the Armco and may even have contributed to the crash. This is one area where real changes were eventually made to ban ground effect cars and skirts, once all the stupid rule dodges were got past that improved safety and the spectacle.
Gille Villeneuve Belgian GP Zolder 82. Everyone knows this one. A massive crash in qualifying completely destroyed the car and killed him. I’d argue todays Quali 1, 2 and 3 provides a better spectacle (at least for TV) and is safer.
Riccardo Paletti the just renamed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian GP 1982. Race should not have been started as Pironi on pole had stalled and was waving his arms in the air. Some cars hit him but were OK, the inexperience Paletti came from 23rd on the grid and smashed into Pironi’s car. FYI a fireball erupted after Sid Watkins was on the scene and engulfed him too. Better officials and stronger cars don’t detract from the show.
One of my hero’s from my youth. Elio De Angelis, testing Paul Ricard 1986. Another stupid accident. A survivable crash in testing that killed him because there were no marshals present to get to the car and put out a fire. His only injuries were a broken collar bone, it was the fire that horribly killed him. Testing is now all but banned and when it happens there is the same safety crews, helicopters, medical staff as a race weekend.
Another one of my favorites as I went to watch him race in FF, F3, BTCC and British F3000. Roland Ratzenberger. San Marino GP 1994 Qualifying accident, he’d already damaged his front wing but didn’t come into the pits. Next lap doing 200mph the downforce damaged the wing and he crashed. Telemetry says he was doing 195 mph when he hit. That would be a touch accident today, but better circuit safety doesn’t make the racing less exciting.
You know who now don’t you.
Ayarton Senna da Silva, again San Marino GP 1994. Car bottomed out and left the track on cold tires after hitting a bump, and what normally have been an not to severe crash became the most infamous crash since LeMans 55. The accident wasn’t that bad, but the freak occurrence of the wishbone puncturing his helmet and head is what killed him. This is what lead to suspension/wheel tethers which have undoubtable made things safer with no effect on the racing. It also lead to more protection around the head, which doesn’t’ affect the racing, but I have heard some old times complain you can’t see the drivers working the cars, but in the 80’s I heard the then old timers complain all you could see was the (very exposed) head and shoulders and you could see Moss and co working the wheel. I call BS on all of it. At Detroit last year I was amazed how much you could see of the driver looking down into the cockpit of the Indy cars, you could really see them working.
Last one is poor Maria de Villota who died a year after her testing accident due to complications. I don’t’ know how hitting the loading part of a semi with your head has anything to do with racing though.
Pushing it a bit here, but there is also Fritz Glatz driving a 96 Vintage Arrows Footwork who died at ‘Most’ in the Czech republic at a Euro BOSS (Big Open wheel Single Seaters) historic F1 race. I don’t know the details but he went over a curb, the car got airborn and went end over end completely destroying the car. I’ve no idea what the circuit safety standards were, but I bet not up to modern F1 standards.
I’ll leave out John Dawson-Damer who died at Goodward of a heart attack driving a 1969 Lotus 63 and also killed a poor marshal as I don’t think it’s really relevant.
So, I’d say that none of the accidents that have happened in the last 40 years have anything to do with the spectacle part of ‘the golden’ age of F1. I would say that if you could apply todays safety knowledge and tracks to the cars of yesterday we would still have had great racing, but with fewer deaths and injuries. I can’t think of one thing that has been done to help safety that has improved the spectacle. I’d argue the opposite. You could say traction control and ABS made racing ‘safer’ but they were band. You could argue that tires that don’t delaminate are safer, yet they were written out of this last year.
On the whole I don’t think the racing is bad, even with the same guy winning, there have been some spectacular races from 2nd place down. I would change some things in F1, but nothing to do with safety.
I think the biggest improvements in driver safety have been (in my order of magnitude)
Carbon fiber tubs
Circuit run off and barriers
Banning ground effects
Drivers heads side protection
Wheel tethers
Minimum ground clearance
Tires construction (2013 excluded)
. It's still a crap move regardless.
