The Increase in safety in Formula One

In just the last race we saw a crash that not that many years ago would have left the driver badly injured or dead. The fact that Heikki Kovalainen was able to walk away unhurt is a testament to the improved safety in FORMULA ONE. It is almost unbelievable that he will drive in next weeks Turkish Grand Prix.

His accident comes on the heels of the equally frightening accident in Canada last year, which saw the car of Robert Kubica become completely airborne. Again the driver somehow survived.

Of course it wasn’t always this safe. As Sir Jackie Stewart notes in his autobiography ‘Winning is not enough’ during a 11 year period in his career some 57 drivers died.

Indeed Sir Jackie was one of the first drivers to really demand increases in safety and making the Grand Prix Drivers Association a bastion of safety in FORMULA ONE.

No doubt also the work of Professor Sid Watkins also greatly saw the vast reductions in death, that for so long were an accepted part of the sport.

However motor racing remains a dangerous sport, as we sadly found out in Australia earlier this year. The risk of Death can not be removed from a sport where a car is driven at such speeds. It is important however that the Grand Prix Drivers association continues to push safety issues when they see them.

A example was provided during this years Australian Grand Prix, when the Toyota of Timo Glock was launched over the raised kerb of a access road. Such raised kerbs should not be on the circuit and it was somewhat surprising this was not picked up in any track inspection. The Grand Prix Drivers Association needs to ensure next that bump is not there.

Thankfully we can safely say that no driver should ever again be wishing 57 of their friends good bye in the future but we must not become complacent and let safety drift into the background.