Mark Gallagher on the Belgian GP

Οι σκέψεις του Mark Gallagher στα Ελληνικά

Thanks to the success of the movie ‘Senna’  a new generation of Formula One and general sports fans were introduced to the life and achievements of the legendary Brazilian driver.  They also know that he died at the wheel of his Formula One car on May 1st 1994.  They might even realise that he was the last Formula One driver to be killed thanks to the remarkable efforts of the FIA and the teams in creating a safety-first culture.

 

Complacency is now the biggest threat to safety in Formula One and, as we saw in Spa, this is particularly true of a new generation of drivers who are used to walking away from serious accidents week after week.

 

Pastor Maldonado has enjoyed more than his fair share of incidents since making his F1 debut in 2011, included highly publicised collisions with Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez.  Romain Grosjean has also gained a reputation for crashing, notably on opening laps.

 

I don’t know either driver, but I am certain that they do not aim to crash when they climb on board their Formula One cars.  Both are fast drivers and driving competitive cars, and they want to have long and successful careers.

 

The problem is that Maldonado’s 0.3 second jump start in Spa, followed by Grosjean’s dramatic move to try and make up places, triggered an accident so serious that it is only through luck that Fernando Alonso was not decapitated. 

 

There is a very sad inevitability that we will see another fatality in Formula One one day.  Human beings driving machines at 320kph inevitably creates risk.  But the obligation of everyone in the sport should be to delay that happening for as long as possible. 

 

If anyone thinks that, after 18 years, Formula One has arrived in a totally safe place, I suggest you talk to former World Champion John Surtees whose son Henry was killed in a Formula 2 accident at Brands Hatch in 2009.  A wheel bounced high in the air and struck Surtees’ helmet, causing the serious head injuries which led to his death a few hours later. There is no reason why such an accident could not happen in F1, even with the wheel tethers that are in use.  Grosjean’s car lost one of its wheels in the accident on Sunday.

 

Spa was a wake-up call to everyone, and the Stewards responded quickly with a one-race ban for Grosjean and a grid penalty for Maldonado in Monza. The message needs to be loud and clear; Formula One drivers must obey the rules and use their superior skills to drive safely as well as fast.  Accidents will happen, but drivers should not provoke them.

 

Driver education must, however, start well before Formula One, not only in GP2 and GP3, but in all lower formulae governing by the FIA.  If the new generation of drivers are not made to face up to their obligations it is only a matter of time before the fatality that we all dread occurs.  That’s not a movie we want to see.