In Formula One

Following the technological advances made in the late Nineties, the safety aspect of Formula One racing continues to become more and more important in the new century, as the following examples show…



2000:

- Impact speed for the mandatory crash test is raised from 13 to 14 metres per second.

- The carbon fibre walls of the cockpit must be at least 3.5 mm thick.

- The 2.5 mm Kevlar layer inside the cockpit walls is designed to resist penetration.

- The rollover bar above the driver’s head is raised by 20 to 70 cm and must be able to withstand a lateral force of 2.4 tons.

- Steering wheel: in the event of an accident, the driver must be able to exit the vehicle within ten seconds and re-attach the steering wheel.
- Rear-view mirrors: the mirrors must measure at least 120 x 50 millimetres. - Time penalty: the penalty is shown on all trackside clocks, as well as the exact time the decision to penalise was taken by race stewards. From this point on, the driver concerned has three laps in which to go to the pits to sit out the penalty.



2001:

- Blue flag: a driver must allow a vehicle behind him to pass when the blue flag is shown for the third time. Otherwise a 10-second stop-and-go penalty will be imposed.

- The marshals are protected better by stricter safety specifications.

- Headrests must be mounted in accordance with FIA standards.

- Cockpit walls at a driver’s head level must rise to the rear at a slope of at least 16 degrees.



2002:

- Two-way telemetry: for the first time, the FIA allows not only engine, brake and suspension data to be transmitted to the pits, but also permits teams to send data back to the cars to adjust these parameters. In extreme cases, the engines can be limited or even turned off by radio: under yellow flags, for example, when another car has stopped in a dangerous position on the circuit. If the race is interrupted, drivers may change cars. But this is only allowed if the driver in the lead has not completed more than two laps.
- Penalties: time penalties (stop-and-go) can be imposed on drivers who trigger a false start, cause an accident or collision, force another driver off the track, fail to heed a blue flag three times, or intentionally impede another driver trying to overtake. Time penalties are also incurred for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane, and may be imposed for running over chicanes if this gives an advantage to the driver in terms of track position.

- Crash test: there is a new lateral test for the rear of the cars. A force of 40 kN is exerted for 30 seconds on a defined area of the carbon fibre wall. There may be no discernible deformation following this applied force.
- Rear lights are increased in size to 6 x 6 centimetres.

- Power steering: power steering has been permitted since January 1st 2002, but without electronic control.

- Drivers: each team may change their lead driver once and their second driver three times during the season. In case of extreme circumstances, such as illness or accident, drivers may be replaced more often.



2003:

Numerous circuits undergo reconstruction prior to the season so as to improve safety even further.

- Silverstone: the Stowe corner’s run-off zone is changed to asphalt.

- Nurburgring: the chicane before the final corner is revised.

- Magny-Cours: the pits’ new exit lane is made safer as the cars now enter the circuit at racing speed.

- Budapest: the run-off zones and safety walls in the first corner are increased in size.

- Suzuka: the winding circuit is given larger run-off zones and new emergency access routes.



2004:

- Monte Carlo is given a permanent pit lane with garages for all the teams.

- New standards: the new tracks in Bahrain and Shanghai set new standards in terms of safety.

- Helmets: the FIA lays down a new standard which sets out even higher requirements for the safety of helmets.



2005:

- Head support: the protecting cushions on the inside of the cockpit are thickened from 75 to 100 millimetres.

- Wheel tethers: the wheels are connected to the chassis with high-performance tethers. Each tether must be able to withstand a minimum load of six tons.

- The Istanbul Park Circuit, built for the Turkish Grand Prix, is one of the safest and most modern Formula One tracks.



2006:

- The impact speed for the rear crash test is increased from 12 to 15 metres per second.



2007:

- The test kilometres permitted between January 1 and December 31 are limited to 30,000 per team. In the process, a maximum of 300 sets of tyres may be used. If the safety car comes onto the track, the pit lane is closed and only opened again when the entire field has formed up in position behind the safety car. The cars are fitted with diodes that transmit the flag signals from the marshals to the drivers in the cockpits.
- Circuits: for the first time since 1977, the Japanese Grand Prix is held in Fuji again and not in Suzuka. After a year’s break for reconstruction work to improve track safety, Spa has returned to the calendar.
- For safety reasons the speed limit in the pit lane is reduced from 100 to 80 km/h.

- During a safety-car phase, any lapped cars positioned between the cars running on the lead lap may overtake them and the safety car, in order to take up position at the back of the field. This is designed to prevent the leading drivers from being separated or even hindered by trailing cars at the re-start.



2008:

- Traction control is no longer permitted, which hopefully results in more overtaking manoeuvres.

- At the same time electronic starting assistance will be forbidden.

- A gearbox has to last for four Grand Prix weekends with effect from the start of the 2008 world championship.

The safety car

For a dramatic expression of the relative performance of Formula One cars and road cars you need to look no further than the familiar, silver forms of the safety car that features at every Grand Prix.



The safety car is very important to ensuring the spectacle of a Formula One race does not suffer from undue disruption, as its use allows the race to continue even after a major accident, or other incident serious enough to require the presence of marshals on the track. This obviously cannot be allowed to happen with cars running at full speed - or even under the caution of yellow flags (as a driver may fail to observe them). Instead the safety car is deployed and the pack 'forms up' behind it - running in formation - until the obstacle or other problem has been cleared away.



It sounds easy. Yet even some of the very fastest road cars in the world, driven flat-out, are barely capable of maintaining a comfortable pace for Formula One cars (which lose tyre temperature and can even suffer from engine overheating during slow running). Since 1996 Mercedes-Benz has supplied Formula One safety cars to all rounds of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the 2009 model is an SL 63 AMG. It has been modified to reduce its weight and improve braking response - but even with 386 kW (525 bhp) output from its V8 engine, that's still only around two-thirds of the power of a current Formula One car (combined with around three times the mass.)

Hence the very real importance of the man in the driving seat. Bernd Maylander is an experienced racer who has driven in the tough German Touring Car (DTM) championship, and who has been charged with the responsibility of piloting the Formula One safety car since 2000. His experience and ability to drive up to the car's high limits ensure that - although lap times increase dramatically during safety car running - speeds are still high enough to allow the race cars to function correctly.



As with the medical response car, the safety car is on standby throughout a Grand Prix, ready to be dispatched by Race Control at a moment's notice. State-of-the-art radio and video equipment enable communication to be maintained at all times. When the Race Director decides to deploy the safety car it will join the track immediately and from that point no car may enter the pitlane and no overtaking is allowed. The safety car will then allow cars to pass it until the race leader is immediately behind it. When signalled to do so, any lapped cars in among the leading pack may then unlap themselves, pass the safety car and proceed around the circuit to retake their positions at the back of the field. Once the correct race order has been restored, the pitlane will reopen. Throughout the process, a 'Safety Car' board is also displayed to drivers as they cross the start-finish line, and the information will also be relayed over radios from the pitlane.



When the Race Director orders the safety car to leave the track again, a similarly exact procedure is followed. At the start of its final lap the safety car will turn off its orange flashing lights. Competitors must still remain behind in formation, but they know that at the beginning of the next lap they will be racing again. The safety car will pull off into the pits at the end of the lap and - as they cross the line - the competitors restart their battle.

Cockpit Safety

At the heart of the modern Formula One car lies the immensely strong 'monocoque' structure, often referred to as the 'tub'. This incorporates the cockpit and the driver's 'survival cell', but also forms the principal component of the car's chassis, with the engine and front suspension mounted directly to it. Both roles - as structural component and safety device - require it to be as strong as possible.



Like the rest of the car, most of the monocoque is constructed from carbon fibre. Normally it comprises high-density woven laminate exterior panels, and a strong, light 'honeycomb' structure inside. Constructing the monocoque is one of the biggest jobs faced by a team's composite technicians. It's not dissimilar to a 1:1 scale model kit, with hundreds of separate carbon fibre components being bonded together using very powerful adhesives.



The fact so many Formula One drivers have survived enormous accidents is testament to the enormous strength of the survival cell. Not only is this a tribute to the teams' very real commitment to safety, but also to the constantly evolving technical regulations laid down by the FIA, which define the increasingly stringent safety requirements.



The fundamental principle remains, as always, that the driver should be able to get out in the least possible time - five seconds, according to the regulations, and without having to remove anything except the steering wheel. (The regulations also say that the driver should be able to put the steering wheel back on in another five seconds, vital for the safe manoeuvring of stricken cars near the track). Crash protection areas are incorporated into the front, sides and rear of the survival cell, as is the mandatory roll-over protection hoop behind the driver's seat. In recent years effort has been concentrated on increasing the protection for drivers' heads - the area most vulnerable to harm by flying debris, by specifying taller and tougher cockpit side walls.



As with road-cars, all Formula One cars must pass several crash and loading tests before being passed fit for racing. It is no coincidence that the FIA is one of the active partners in the Euro-NCAP road-car testing programme. The impact tests require the car's survival cell to be attached to a special trolley with a 75 kg crash-test dummy in place - this then being collided with a solid object at a speed of 15 m/s (54 km/h, 33 mph), with the forces applied to the dummy and the trolley carefully measured.



The low speed of the test is no reflection on a Formula One car's ability to absorb the forces of larger impacts - the speeds have been chosen to allow the most accurate measurement of the car's ability to safely absorb the unwanted momentum of an accident. Rear impact and steering column loading tests are also carried out.

Driver Clothing

Formula One helmets are designed around the clear need to protect drivers' heads from the risk of major impacts. But the rest of his clothing has an equally serious purpose: offering the best possible defence against the risks of fire.



Fortunately fire is now extremely rare in Formula One racing, although well into the 1970s drivers were being routinely injured or even killed by terrible blazes caused by fuel igniting after accidents. Modern overalls, gloves and boots are made from special fire-proof materials designed to ensure that, even if a driver is trapped inside a burning car, he will remain protected until the marshals have extinguished the blaze.

Today’s overalls feature multi-layer construction from a special form of Aramid plastic fabric, which is tested with a white hot propane flame. The overalls must also be made as light as possible and - due to the physical stresses of driving a Formula One car - they also have to 'breath', allowing the kilograms of sweat produced by a driver during a race to escape. The patches carrying corporate and sponsors' logos are made from the same material, as is the thread used to sew the overalls together.



Overalls also feature two large 'handles' on the drivers’ shoulders. These serve a vital safety purpose as the regulations require cars to be designed so that a driver can be removed from the car strapped into his seat (to minimise the risk of complicating injuries). The seat is therefore secured by four pins, which can be easily released by all rescue crews. The shoulder straps are strong enough to allow the driver and seat to be pulled from the car together, and must therefore be capable of supporting the combined weight.



The fireproof gloves are made as thin as possible, to ensure that the driver has the greatest possible amount of 'feel' to the steering wheel. Similarly the soles of the driver's racing boots are far thinner than those of ordinary shoes to allow the most accurate contact with the car's pedals. Underneath his overalls and his helmet the driver wears a further layer of flameproof underwear.

The effectiveness of all these precautions was amply demonstrated in 1994 when Jos Verstappen and the Benetton pit crew survived a fierce fire caused by a fuel leak with no serious injuries.

HANS

HANS stands for the Head and Neck Support system, an innovative safety device that has been seen in other codes of motorsport for years, but which became mandatory in Formula One for the first time in 2003. Its purpose is simple: to massively reduce the loadings caused to a driver's head and neck during the rapid deceleration caused by an accident.



This in turn reduces the risk of the neck and skull fractures which are the greatest cause of death in racing accidents. Yet unlike the 'active' safety features modern road cars tend to be equipped with, such as airbags and explosive seatbelt pre-tensioners, HANS is entirely passive and does not require any electronic sensors or power supply.

The HANS system was invented in the mid 1980s by Dr.Robert Hubbard, a biomechanical engineering professor at Michigan State University in the USA. The principle behind it is simple. Although a driver's body is firmly strapped to the body of a race car through safety harnesses, his (or her) head and neck are unsupported in the event of an accident. Indeed, a race driver's helmet will actually increase the weight of the head, and the pendulum momentum of the forward swing that has to be absorbed by the neck muscles. These are the 'whiplash' injuries common in road accidents, although the forces involved in Formula One crashes are - of course - much higher.



The HANS system consists of a carbon fibre 'collar' worn by the driver around his neck and fitted under the shoulder belts of the safety harness. The helmet is then loosely connected to the collar by two tethers, which allow free movement of the head in normal operation. In the event of a frontal impact the amount of helmet deflection will be controlled by these tethers, while the collar is locked in place by the tightening safety harness. The energy absorbed by the driver's neck and skull is dramatically reduced, while the helmet loading is also transferred from the base of the skull to the forehead - which is far better suited to taking the force.

The original HANS device went on sale in 1990 but the large collar was unsuited to Formula One or other single seat disciplines with narrow, tight cockpits. After Mika Hakkinen's enormous accident in Adelaide in 1995 (in which he fractured his skull) the FIA instituted a research programme in conjunction with DaimlerChrysler to establish the best way of protecting drivers' heads in major impacts. Airbag and 'active' safety systems were briefly considered, but the research emphasis then shifted to HANS and the development of a version of the system suitable for Formula One.



During testing the benefits of the system became apparent, figures suggesting than HANS reduced typical head motion by 44 percent, the force applied to the neck by 86 percent and the acceleration applied to the head by 68 percent - bringing the figures for even large impacts under the 'injury threshold'.



The revised system was certified for Formula One and became mandatory for all drivers from the start of the 2003 season. Although some drivers complained of discomfort wearing the system over a full race distance, it has generally been accepted as a sensible way of reducing the very real risk of injury. As such it stands as evidence of Formula One's very real commitment to driver safety.

Helmets

One of the most important safety devices in Formula One racing is the driver's helmet. Although its fundamental shape may look very similar to those worn by drivers in the 1980s and even the 1970s, the underlying design and construction technology has changed radically over the years.



As late as 1985 a typical Formula One helmet weighed around 2kg. That amount increased dramatically under high-G cornering or deceleration, adding to the risk of 'whiplash' type injuries in big accidents. As head and neck trauma has been identified as the greatest single risk of injury to race drivers, helmet manufacturers place the greatest importance on reducing the mass of helmets, while increasing their strength and resistance to impacts.



Current Formula One helmets are massively strong, and also considerably lighter, now weighing approximately 1.25 kg. Helmets are constructed from several separate layers, offering a combination of strength and flexibility (vital to absorb the force of large impacts). The outer shell has two layers, typically fibre-reinforced resin over carbon fibre. Under that comes a layer formed of vastly strong plastic, the same material used in many bullet-proof vests. Then there is a softer, deformable layer made from a plastic based on polystyrene, covered with the flame-proof material used in racing overalls and gloves.

The visor will be made of a special clear polycarbonate, combining excellent impact protection with flame resistance and excellent visibility. Most drivers use tinted visors, the insides of which are coated with anti-fogging chemicals to prevent them misting up, particularly in wet conditions. Several transparent tear-off strips are attached to the outside. As the visor picks up dirt during the course of the race, the driver can remove these to clear his vision.



In recent seasons the actual shape of helmets has gradually evolved, as more aerodynamically efficient shapes are brought into use. Sitting directly below the main engine air intake, helmets are increasingly shaped to assist in the process of reducing drag in this notoriously high-turbulence aerodynamic area. The modern designs also reduce the lift produced by more traditionally shaped helmets - which can be anything up to 15 kg at racing speeds.



The helmet design must also provide ventilation for the driver. This is achieved through the use of various small air intakes. To prevent small particles of track debris entering the helmet these intakes are equipped with special filters.



Despite the cutting edge materials used in their construction Formula One helmets are still painted by hand, an incredibly skilled job requiring hundreds of hours of work for more complicated patterns and designs. And most drivers will go through several helmets during the course of a season.



As you would expect, the FIA have strict ‘super helmet’ requirements for Formula One racing. To gain approval for Grand Prix use, a helmet design must pass a number of tests, covering factors such as crush and penetration resistance and surface friction. It must also work correctly in conjunction with the mandatory HANS (Head and Neck Support) device.

Medical

In no area has the sport of Formula One racing changed as much over the years as that of medical provision. As late as the early 1980s, medical provision at many Grand Prix events was shockingly poor by modern standards. Now it is one of the top priorities at every race.



The serious nature of some motor racing injuries means that speed of medical response is absolutely vital to saving lives. Because of this all Formula One races have several tiers of medical staff, which can be rapidly 'escalated' as appropriate. The circuits have paramedics and doctors based at various points around the track, intended to provide first aid to injured drivers or officials, and to make an assessment as to whether further medical aid is required. Specialist medical teams are positioned at key points in high-powered cars, which can be quickly driven to a serious incident.



There are also medical extraction teams, which carry the equipment necessary to remove any casualty trapped in a car. On top of all this there will be ambulances and a MedEvac helicopter. And, at all races, the FIA's chief medical delegate, Doctor Gary Hartstein, will be ready at all times in the medical chase car, in which he can be driven to the scene of any major injury. When he arrives at the stricken car, a warning light system located on the top of cockpit provides an immediate indication of the severity of the accident.



Each circuit must also have a fully-equipped medical centre. This will include full resuscitation equipment and a fully-equipped operating theatre. Local hospitals will also be on stand-by during the course of a race, more serious injuries can be transferred to them by helicopter or ambulance if appropriate. The medical staff at most race meetings will also have their own radio network, through which they will liaise with race control.



Formula One racing is vastly safer than it used to be, and medical provision is infinitely better. But there is still no room for complacency, and it is a certainty that the scope and capacity of medical provision will continue to be at the forefront of the sport's evolution in years to come.