Formula 1 in the modern age has become somewhat sterile. Fewer DNFs (Did Not Finish) and far fewer Formula 1 crashes. Is this what we really want to see? Or does our inner sadist want more carnage?
Montreal 2014 was a great race; a new Grand Prix winner always seems to brighten the weekend, none more so than Daniel Ricciardo’s victory in Montreal. The man who never seems to stop smiling looked like a Cheshire Cat who got the cream and salmon lunch, followed by cat nip for tea. I’m sure he’s a popular winner wherever your allegiances may lie.
Perez and Massa in Montreal
Great as Ricciardo’s win and the battle between the Silver Arrows teammates was, the most exciting part of the race for me was not the Ricciardo overtake of the ailing Nico Rosberg Mercedes Benz, but the battle just behind for fourth place: Fellipe Massa on Sergio Perez.
Lap 69
Sebastian Vettel overtakes Perez into the chicane. Massa immediately is on Checo’s exhaust pipe, he pulls out of the slip stream to overtake and clips the Mexican, taking out the Force India, and careers off into the barrier, narrowly missing out on collecting Vettel on his way.
Both drivers escaped relatively unscathed.
Formula 1 Crashes of Days Gone By
So why are the crashes so exciting? Is it a sad reflection on me, or is it something we all like to see?
Of course I’m not talking about the kind of accident which kills or seriously injures. I don’t want to go back to the dark days when Formula 1 was as dangerous as running across a busy road blindfolded.
Modern Formula 1 has to thank the likes of of Sir Jackie Stewart and Professor Sid Watkins who fought so hard for driver safety and made not just Formula 1 but Motor Racing in general a much much safer sport.
Gone are the days of a fatality at almost every Grand Prix weekend in the formative early years of the sport. Gradual improvements over the decades, including higher cockpit protection, tethered wheels, the “monocoque” (French for single shell) survival tub, the HANS device and many other improvements mean we have not had a fatality in over 20 years. The Imola weekend and the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and the great Ayrton Senna will always haunt Formula One, its teams, administrators and fans alike.
What I do want to see is driver and machine on the very limit of their capability, pushing harder and harder to find that limit. This inevitably causes failures in both man and machine. Along with those failures comes accidents, sometimes spectacular, like this weekend in Canada. Who can forget Robert Kubica’s huge crash at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2007? Or Mark Webber’s 190 mph shunt at the European Grand Prix in Valencia where his Red Bull sommersaulted through the air? Both drivers walked away unscathed.
And you know what? I like to see the crashes! Not that I want to see someone hurt, maybe I’m out of step here? In real life I hate to see road accidents; there’s nothing worse than seeing a crash on the highway, the cost and heartbreak which it brings. But the fact that fewer people are hurt on the city streets can be directly linked to F1: seat belts, crumple zones, anti lock steering, Traction control and multi function steering wheels which keep your eyes on the road, plus rear view mirrors which first appeared in the Indianapolis 500 race in 1911. All have been pioneered or perfected in the higher echelons of motor sport.
Next time you see a racing crash you can watch it guilt free, as long as no one is hurt. Just say as I have: “It improves road safety.”
Just remember these are professional racing drivers. Whatever you do don’t slipstream on the highways. It’s dangerous and the police generally don’t like it.
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