As the fallout continues from Jules Bianchi’s life-threatening crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, calls are increasing for Formula One’s governing body to consider closed-cockpits as part of increased safety developments.
Bianchi continues to fight for his life in a “critical but stable condition”, after suffering a serious brain injury when he crashed into a recovery vehicle that was attending to another car.
While grand prix racing has made huge strides in safety when it comes to car construction and track facilities, drivers remain at risk when their heads are exposed at such high speeds.
While the Bianchi crash occurred because the race continued while a recovery vehicle was on the track-side of the barrier, it’s the latest incident to cause head injuries due to the open-cockpit car design.
Formula One driver Felipe Massa, for example, fractured his skull and so nearly lost his eye when a flying object from another car hit him in Hungary in 2009.
Other serious injuries and indeed fatalities have occurred because of parts, wheels or other cars making contact with drivers’ helmets.
The closed-cockpit debate isn’t just about the feasibility of the change in terms of construction. Many in the Formula One paddock believe it would be very easy to implement and would significantly minimise the risk of injury.
But a closed-cockpit would certainly change not only the aesthetics but also the very essence of a grand prix car, with many claiming an open-wheel and open-cockpit construction is fundamental to its design.
With closed-cockpits and increased attempts to cover the wheels with bodywork to minimise the risk of car-to-car contact sending cars into the air, is Formula One edging too close to sportscars?
After all, Le Mans prototypes (LMP1) from the likes of Audi, Porsche and Toyota are in many ways Formula One cars with sportscar shapes, a design Formula One may need to follow with closed-cockpits.
Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley makes a good point: “Does it change the formula a little bit? I think if you look at how a Formula One car looks in 2014 compared to how it looks in 1950 when the championship started, they don’t look very similar to be perfectly honest.
“So whether or not the aesthetics is an argument or not… certainly not one for me… maybe for other people.”
The aesthetics of the current Formula One cars already have veered away from what most consider to be pretty race cars, in order to appease technical regulations to either improve the racing or safety.
But there’s no doubt closed-cockpits and covered wheels would change the ball-game and force a rethink of how we define grand prix cars.
In an era where safety is of paramount importance and injuries/fatalities no longer acceptable in a sport where they were once commonplace, a new-look grand prix may become inevitable.
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