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Veronica Shoemaker
Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
05 December 201610 November 2016
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Technological Advances: Is Formula One Playing It Safe On The Track?

It was dreary morning at Nrburgring on August 1st in 1976 when Niki Lauda and his
competitors arrived for the German Grand Prix. Lauda was the reigning Formula One champion
and well on his way to a second title when he arrived in Germany that weekend. The rain was
dangerous for anyone to drive in, not to mention a Formula One car going speeds of 150mph
plus. Prior to the race, Lauda voiced his concern for safety, and tried to get his fellow drivers to
boycott the race, but he did not receive enough votes, and they were hours away from the green
flag. Little did he know, that participating in that race would change his life forever.
Formula One is the most recognized form of racing in the world. The drivers come from
many different countries, and are all very skilled in what they do. There are many lower levels to
the F1 series, kind of like college, minor league, and then major league baseball. Because it is
such a competitive sport, very few drivers actually make it, and the smaller series help to filter
out the good drivers from the great. Because it is an international sport, anyone from anywhere
has a chance to be successful in this series. Because America has multiple types of motorsports
like IndyCar and NASCAR, they tend to think that racing is boring because it is just a bunch of
left turns. However, Formula One only drives on road courses and Grand Prixs, where they drive

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through the streets of actual cities and make more
right turns than they do lefts. Because Formula
One travels to multiple countries, there is a better
chance for people to actually make it to a race
without spending lots of time and money traveling.
Safety has become very important in the world of motorsports. With iconic fatal crashes
like those of Dale Earnhardt Senior, Dan Weldon, and Pierre Levegh, it became obvious that
every series needed to take major steps to ensure the safety of the drivers, teams, and the
spectators. The 1955 24 Hours of Lemans is deadliest single race and killed the most spectators
at a motorsport event, explains Jeff Nilsson, a columnist for TheSportster.com in his article
titled "Top 15 Worst Crashes in Motorsport History." In this particular race, a wreck occurred
near the pits and numerous cars were close behind trying to avoid the collision. A car was
launched up into the crowd and the debris crushed many spectators. The magnesium that the car
was made out of caught fire and burned many others alive. There were 84 reported deaths from
this accident, and over 100 other injuries. Everyone at a racetrack was in danger, not just the
drivers and teams. Still, FFormula One is considered to be one of the most dangerous sports
because of the speed and design of the cars.of the cars. The cars reach speeds as high as 231.523
mph according to Tom Bellingham, a motorsports writer for Red Bull. Nabanita Dhar, a software
engineer and frequent columnist says, the risk involved in this sport is highly substantial.,
while she compares and contrasts the safety in various kinds of sports. Formula One is the most
popular form of motorsports in the world because it is one of the only racing series that travels
and races around the world. Each race has a national audience, and gets more viewership than
NASCAR and IndyCar combined. With new rules and regulations implemented over the years, it

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is apparent that Formula One is trying to make a change in favor of safety, but is it enough, or is
it too much?
Formula Oone held its first official race in May 1950 in Silverstone, England. Since the
sport was just starting out, there were very few rules and regulations for the races, people simply
showed up with their cars, and raced. By the time Formula One reachedsaw the 1970s, there
were numerous enforcements and rules put into place for the teams and drivers. According to the
official F1 website, it took until the 1960s for the first safety measures to be introduced, and one
of the first things that became mandatory was the roll-over bar, introduced in
1961. The purpose for these curved metal bars located just behind the
drivers head, is to provide a safe distance between the driver and the ground
in the event of the car flipping over. Since the cockpit, or the area where the
driver sits, is not covered like it would be on a regular car, Fzone, a Formula
One based website, explains its function as: This (the roll-over bar) will
take the impact and reduce chances of the drivers head or neck taking the
brunt of the impact. Drivers first became required to wear fire-suits in 1963. Fire was and still
is one of the greatest dangers at a race track. The crash Jerry Unser had atin Indianapolis in 1959
is arguably the reason that these special suits made of fire resistant material became a
requirement. Unser died when he lost control during a practice session, his car hitting a wall and
then somersaulting down the track before exploding, describes Martin Williamson from ESPN.
Williamson explains that the burns received duringfrom that accident caused his death later that
night. In 1963 tThe Federation Internationale de lAutomobile (FIA) took responsibility for the
safety of the entire sport. Encyclopedia Britannica describes the FIA as the international
governing body for many auto racing events. They set the rules for the sports and they have the

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final say in any issue that comes up. They are the ones who started making safety a top priority at
the track.
Another important advance was the reconstruction of the fuel tank that took place in
1965. Prior to this new and improved fuel tank, when the car got caught up in a wreck, the fuel
hose that ran through the engine and the chassis, or the framework of the car, could have become
dethatched in athe crash, causing fuel to leak out , creatand createing an even greater fire hazard.
Other notable advances in the sport in the 1960s were things like the redesigned cockpit, making
it easier for drivers to get out in a hurry, more regulations for the already in place roll-over bar,
and the introduction of the full visor helmet, opposed to the more commonly used one at that
time which only covered the top of the drivers head. The full visor helmet is the one that
completely covers a drivers head and has a piece of clear fiberglass across the front so the
drivers are able to see out of it. All of these advances were revisited and updated in the 1970s
and 1980s as well, which goes to show that Formula One is constantly trying to make the sport
safer.
A lot more safety devices and rules like a driver code of conduct, medical tests for all
drivers, and safety walls at every track were implemented in the 1970s, as the sport suffered
more devastating and fatal crashes. Daniel Johnson, a Formula One correspondent for The
Telegraph examines the 5 deadliest crashes in Formula One1 throughin one of his articles. Two
of these crashes could have been substantially less severe and the drivers may have even kept
their lives if their incidents would have occurred post 1970s. Jim Clark was a driver at
Hockenheim in 1968, who unfortunately, due to the lack of safer barriers, or the walls
surrounding the track that are specially made to absorb the impact of the crash, was veered off of
the track and crashed into the trees where he broke his neck and fractured his skull. Double crash

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barriers were introduced in 1970, just 2 years after the death of Clark, when the FIA started to
make circuit inspections mandatory before each race. Johnson also mentions Jochen Rindt, who
lost his life at Monza in 1970, not during the race, but during qualifying, where he was trying to
post the fastest lap so he could start at the front of the field for the actual race. He lost control of
his brakesbreaks and ended up crashing into the wall which toreended up tearing the nose off of
the car. Rindt was known for not wearing his safety belts all of the time so in case of a fire, he
could get out of his car quickly in case of a fire. He slid under the belt straps during the crash,
and suffered fatal injuries. In 1972 the six-pointed seat belt was introduced, it is easy enough to
get out of, but strong enough to hold drivers in place during a dangerous crash. If Rindt had this
mandatory feature in his car during the crash, he would have still been injured, but his injuries
may not have been as severe he may not have died.
That rainy August day at Nrburgring in 1976 not only changed the life of Niki Lauda
forever, but it also changed the sport of Formula One racing. On the second lap of the race,
Lauda crashed and his car bounced back onto the track where he was then hit by an oncoming
vehicle. Stef Schrader summarizes in his article that, Lauda was trapped inside his own burning
car for over a minute, damaging his lungs with
smoke. His scalp, forehead and hands suffered
severe burns that left him in critical condition.
Lauda had a remarkable recovery, and returned to
the track 6 short weeks later, but he was not the
same. He made safety a priority, and would refuse
to race if he felt the conditions at the track were not safe enough. Larger tracks like Nrburgring
were phased out of the schedule until they could update their track to the safety standards that the

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FIA had issued. In 1979, Lauda and a few other drivers competed in overalls made up of layers
of fire proof clothing from NASA, hoping to make accidents like Laudas less severe in the
future. In 1994, even the crew members were required to wear this fire proof clothing to protect
them while refueling the cars during a pit stop.
The tracks have undergone a lot of changes since the FIA was put in charge of the sport.
Many tracks like Nrburgring were cut from the schedule
until they implemented all of the new safety features that
the FIA had required. In the early 1970s, the first few
track based safety checks happened. Circuit inspection
became a requirement in 1970, along with crash barriers
separating the pit road, the road where cars stop to change
tires and refuel, from the actual racetrack. When cars are on pit road, they go significantly slower
because the teams are actually out there on the track working on the cars, it is extremely
dangerous for the cars to be flying by at 200mph just a few feet from the pedestrians on the track.
In 1975, for the first time, the FIA required there to be a medical crew at every event on the
track, and in 1980, permanent medical facilities became a requirement at every track that
Formula One visited. AtlasF1 shows that tire barriers became a requirement at all tracks in 1981.
The tire barriers are a lot softer than the cement walls that surround the track. These fancy
barriers are placed at turns and zones where there is a better chance of collision or contact, and
their purpose is to reduce the shock when the car hits, so the driver has less injuries. In 1992 the
curbs at some tracks had to be lowered because when a car hits a curb wrong at 200mph+ the car
will take on air and flip. AtlasF1 also states that by 1944 there were 15 tracks removed from the
season because their corners or other sections of the track were not up to par on the computer

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analysis conducted by the FIA. There were many more safety requirements that tracks had to
keep up with over the years, and the FIA still comes up with new ones each year.
The crash of Gilles Villeneuve wasis another that was substantial wreckand that sparked
even more change in the sport. In his article: 15 Most Tragic Deaths Of Formula One Drivers,
Marcus Tontini explains that Gilles was attempting to qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand
Prix when he died. Tontini states that After he clipped the rear end of Mass car, Villeneuves
car was launched 100m into the air and disintegrated after nosediving into the side of the track.
Just two years later, in 1984, the FIA moveds the placement of the fuel tank in the cars, and in
1985, they started start to test the frontal impact on the cars in the case of a crash. Villeneuve
died on impact at the track.k, but hHis son, Jacques Villeneuve was qualifying for the exact same
race a few years down the road, when he too wrecked. The difference between the two incidents
wasis about 16 years, and a lot of safety advances. Jacques was able to walk away with a few
scrapes and bruises, but his dad had lost his life. Some would argue that the situations were
different for each of the crashes, and that Gilles crash was more severe. Although they were two
completely different wrecks, Jacques was going at least 200170mph at the time of impact, where
as his father was only averaging 140mph. It could be argued that Jacques should have been the
one to lose his life because of the speed of impact, but in fact, it was the other way around, which
says a lot about how far safety has come in the cars and at the tracks. Veteran driver Michael
Schumacher, stateds in an interview from The Standard: (Jacques) Villeneuves accident was a
big one and it proved that safety standards have improved a great deal." Schumacher is a driver
who has been around the sport a long time and has been an active driver since 1991. He has been
given the reputation as one of the most influential men in F1 because he is a 7-time world
champion. He has also witnessed and even survived some dangerousof the worst crashes in the

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sport. If he believes that the sport has gotten safer, then there is no doubt that Formula One has
become safer.
However, tThere have been arguments by many people that the FIA is making the sport
too safe and that it will lead to the downfall of Formula One as a whole. Yes, many of the
people saying this are just crazed fans who go to a race to see wrecks and injuries, but some of
the people who agree with this statement may shock you. "My opinion is if we continue only to
think of making it 110% about the safety issues, we're going to destroy Formula One," expresses
former Formula One driver, Niki Lauda in an interview with Henry Young from CNN. People
dont go to a race just to watch the cars driver around a track 100 times. "Why are we
watching?", Lauda asks before he further explains that, "Good racing, a bit of danger -- always
there. And unbelievable driver performance to keep these cars under control.". The thrill of the
sport is not knowing what you are going to see, the possibility of craziness or danger is exactly
what draws everyone in. Max Mosley, the former president of the FIA understands that, "The
drivers, generally speaking, are interested in having the fastest car," he said. "They are not really
interested in safety,. fFrom an interview in the Kansas City Star. The sport is improving safety,
but when a former driver and huge safety advocate believes that it is starting to ruinruining the
sport, the FIA really needs to think about its decisions.
Since the early 1960s, Formula One has been trying to make the sport a safer place for
drivers and crew members. There were many horrible wrecks that made Formula One the sport
that it is today. Without the terrible crashes like those of Niki Lauda and Jerry Unser, who knows
when the sport would have started to focus on safety. The FIA has made many new rules and
regulations for the crews to follow. They implemented safety features at all of the tracks, made
strict dress codes and conduct codes for all of the drivers, and set standards for the vehicles and

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equipment used. As a result, there have been significantly fewerless crashes and all of the
injuries have been less severe. It can be argued that the number of rules and the new safety
features are is ruining the sport. Safety is a very important part of the motorsports world today,
all of the drivers know the risks they take when they hit the track, but all of the new advances to
protect them gives them a little piece of mind while they are out there. In spite of that, if the sport
becomes safe to the point that it is boring to watch, it will lose its fan base, and it could lead to
the end of Formula One as a whole. Without a hint of danger or chaos, going to a race would just
be paying outrageous amounts of money to watch cars drive by really fast for 190 miles.
Whatever the case may be, the drivers are walking away from very dangerous wrecks virtually
unharmed. It is obvious that the sport has come very far in the field of safety, but has it gone too
far?

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"24 Hours of Le Mans." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 June

2016. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.
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2015. Web. 20 Nov. 2016.
Close call for Villeneuve: Walks away from crash practicing for same race that killed his
father. The Standard. 29 Aug. 1998, A10. NewsBank. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.
Dafria, Abhishek. "Niki Lauda's Crash to Be Relived..." Bucks And Corn. Blogger.com, 01 Jan.
1970. Web. 04 Dec. 2016.
"Deaths make Formula One look at itself Senna tragedy fuels questions about safety, but racing
officials cite drivers' desire for speed.." The Kansas City Star. 3 May 1994,
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Dhar, Nabanita. "Top 10 Most Dangerous Sports." TopYaps. TopYaps Contributor, 2014. Web.
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Harmer, Alfie Potts. "Top 15 Disasterous Formula One Car Crashes." TheSportster.
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Johnson, Daniel. "Life On The Limit: Formula One's Deadliest Crashes." The Telegraph.
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