Formula One safety margin grows wider

Press, 1 September 1989, Page 38

Formula One safety margin grows wider

MOTOR SPORT

George Tanner

A notable aspect of this year’s world drivers’ championship series has been the number of drivers escaping serious injury after high-speed accidents.

PHilippe Streiff, of France, badly injured in a pre-season testing session in Brazil, is an exception. There can be no doubt that today’s modern Formula One cars are safer than ever before and the fact that several drivers, including Gerhard Berger, Riccardo . Patrese and Mauricio Gugelmin have emerged virtually unscathed from potentially disastrous accidents, is testimony to the design skills and high-tech coni struction methods used to build these ultra-fast, four-wheeled missiles.

After Berger’s horrific, fiery accident at Imola earlier this season, two of the sport’s legendary names, Stirling Moss and

Jackie Stewart, said that such an accident in their day would have been fatal.

Since 1950, 28 of the 478 world championship grands prix have been marred by fatalities. In all, 25 drivers, 30 spectators and two marshals have died as a result of accidents.

Of the driver fatalities, 18 have died after race accidents, and seven have been killed during practice sessions.

In 1953, nine spectators died in Argentina after Guiseppi Farina’s Ferrari left the track and seven years later, a spectator died in the Netherlands after being struck by Dan Gurney’s BRM.

The following year, 13 spectators died when the Ferrari of Wolfgang Von Trips cartwheeled into a safety fence during the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

In 1975, five people died when Rolf Stommelen’s Lola-Hill flipped over a safety barrier during the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuich Park, and two years later, two spectators were killed in an unauthorised area at the Mount Fuji circuit in Japan, when struck by the Ferrari of the Canadian ace, Gilles Villeneuve.

The last grand prix fatality occurred at the start of the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix, when the Italian novice, Riccardo

Paletti, was involved in a start-line shunt.

In May, 1986, another Italian, Elio de Angelis, died in a Formula One accident. The likeable veteran of 108 grands prix was killed when he lost control of his Brabham BMW during a private test session at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.

Millions of dollars are spent annually upgrading circuits and researching construction materials in an all-out effort to improve safety standards. In spite of increased speeds and frequent accidents, it now appears that Formula One, the creme de la creme of international motor sport, is, thankfully, a lot safer than the statistics would suggest.