Are F1 drivers real men or just lunatics?

 

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By Andrew Sutherland, 11 Mar 2010 Andrew Sutherland is a Roar Expert

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 F1, felipe massa, formula, grand prix michael schumacher, Motorsport

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Felipe Massa - Ferrari F1 driver

The return of the great Michael Schumacher to Formula One this weekend has overshadowed another resurrection; that of Felipe Massa.

During qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix in April last year a small innocuous spring dislodged itself from Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn, bounced along the Hungaroring track and smashed its way deep into Massa’s helmet fracturing his skull. The injury was deemed life threatening and was highlighted in a photo of him being lifted from his imploded Ferrari. The left eye was closed and covered with congealed blood from the gash above it and his staring right eye looked like that of a dead man. His doctors announced it was unlikely he would race again.

But these Formula One drivers are tough, perhaps even mad. As with the cars, the lean and fragile looking bodies belie the power within. And so eleven months later, with a titanium plate in his skull to prevent the g-forces breaking it apart, he is back. With a genuine chance of winning the championship.

Compared with the ’60′s and ’70′s though,when sixteen of Formula One’s twenty four fatalities took place, the modern era is a relatively safe one. Driving during those decades was a serious lottery of death. The film One by One directed by Claude De Boc documented the 1973 season. Two of the four drivers profiled, were killed in accidents within a year of the film’s release.

The courage, single mindedness, and madness of the time was epitomised by Niki Lauda. After crashing in the 1976 German Grand Prix Lauda was dragged from his inferno of a Ferrari with serious head burns and poisoned lungs. Despite falling into a coma and being administered with the last rites he was back racing in six weeks losing the championship by a solitary point. For Lauda being on fire was water off a duck’s back.

One of his saner contemporaries, New Zealander Chris Amon, refused to restart after Lauda’s accident claiming: “I’ve seen too many people fried in racing cars”. He was subsequently sacked by his team.

Of course the danger of driving in this era was the essential attraction for some of these moneyed adventurers, an attraction they could fatally carry over into their non racing time.

Even today, with high tech helmets and carbon fibre cradles, the safety of the head remains a serious concern. In an open cockpit travelling at 300km/h a driver’s head will always be a prominent target for debris and a candidate for serious impact with concrete walls and flying wheels (a common occurence, until tyre tethering, and improvement in safe walls and run off areas).

The history of fatal head injuries include the bizarre 1960 death of British driver Alan Stacey who was killed after being struck in the face by a bird and crashing. The last and most famous Formula One fatality was that of Ayrton Senna who was hit by his own front wheel and suspension after crashing into a wall.

When One by One was later released on video as Quick and The Dead it included the appalling deaths of Brit Tom Pryce and a fire marshall at the 1977 South African Grand Prix. Pryce at near full speed struck the marshall who was running across the track to attend to Pryce’s teammate’s stricken car. Pryce, even taking his era’s appalling safety standards into account ,was extremely unlucky and would probably have survived if the marshall’s extinguisher hadn’t struck his helmet. The ruthlessness of that era was also highlighted by the winner Lauda who claimed it was one of his greatest wins. Compare that to the solemn victory speech of Schumacher after Senna’s death.

The lack of professionalism at that time was highlighted by footage that played like a tragic farce. Pryce’s teammate Renzo Zorzi has pulled over to the side of the track. The car starts to spout flames as Zorzi fights his way out of the cockpit only for his seatbelt to catch on his shoulder. Pulling at it desperately he finally manages to break free. Then remembering his car has its own extinguisher he scampers Frank Spencer-like around to the side of the car and starts pulling at the stubborn thing. At that moment a fire marshall arrives on the scene just as (out of shot) his accomplice is struck by Pryce’s car. As the shattered carcass flutters by, like a red wet piece of carboard, they glance over momentarily and then resume their fire extinguishing!

The whole Grand Prix just resembles an amateur car club meet at Sandown. Flaired jeaned marshalls darting about all over the place. Then shots of medical staff with the body of Pryce bouncing on a canvas stretcher running across the track, cars still screaming by. And Pryce’s Shadow is seen crumpled and entangled in chicken wire. Despite the cause of the marshall’s horrible death we then see the chequered flag waver nonchalantly wandering out onto the track towards the cars.

Three months after Massa’s accident Formula 2 driver Henry Surtees was struck in the head and killed by a wheel that had broken its tether. Until canopies are introduced (unlikely considering the reduced visibility, the possibility of dislodgement and injured drivers being trapped in wrecks) the threat of frontal impacts to drivers helmets will remain.

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