Formula One investigators will renew tests on closed cockpits next month after Justin Wilson was fatally injured by flying debris in an IndyCar race in the United States.
Wilson, from Sheffield, died late on Monday night after 24 hours in a coma in a hospital in Pennsylvania. He was competing in the ABC Supply 500 at the Pocono Raceway, a banked oval, when he ran into debris from Sage Karam’s crashed IndyCar. It is thought that he was hit by the flying nose cone at almost 200mph.
The authorities in the US and in Europe have started work to discover whether cars should now be fitted with jet fighter-style canopies. The FIA, F1’s governing body, has already carried out successful tests and will step up interest after a series of accidents. The risk of severe head injuries is now a pressing one, particularly in IndyCars, which attracts so many British drivers. We ask why.
The IndyCar series in the US is the premier open-wheel series yet it seems to be appallingly dangerous. Is that perception true?
IndyCar has a record that makes F1 look like a playpen. After the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna in 1994 at Imola, F1 underwent a safety revolution. The result is that there were no fatalities until Jules Bianchi’s freak accident in Suzuka last year. In the same period, there have been eight fatalities in American open-wheel racing — and the last two have been Britons, Dan Wheldon in 2011 and now Wilson. That does not take into account career-ending injuries suffered by former champions, such as Alex Zanardi, Dario Franchitti and Kenny Brack.
Why is there such a difference?
F1 has traditionally operated at a much higher technical level, which has allowed extraordinary developments in crash structures in cars. Tracks, too, have been given radical makeovers with longer run-off areas and more absorbent barriers.
By contrast, IndyCars and circuit design had lagged behind until Wheldon’s death, which sparked changes. However, the IndyCar series has one clear — and dangerous — difference: races on high-speed ovals. On Sunday, Wilson was among drivers expected to complete 200 laps at up to 200mph on a banked oval surrounded by unforgiving walls. Any crash at those speeds and in a densely-packed field has consequences.
Was Justin Wilson’s death a freak accident or a fundamental problem?
Both. Footage shows Sage Karam’s car breaking up on impact with the wall and debris being flung across the Pocono track. Wilson is hit by what appears to be Karam’s nose cone with an impact so great that the nose cone flies about 100 metres into the air. It seems Wilson was unconscious before his car slewed into the barriers.
So a complete freak, then?
Perhaps not. James Hinchcliffe almost suffered a similar fate only last May when he was hit by debris during an IndyCar race. Fortunately, he survived. Bianchi died from a blow to the head and Felipe Massa survived being hit by a loose spring bouncing along the track at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Let’s not forget Henry Surtees, too. The son of John, the 1964 F1 world champion, died when he was hit by a stray wheel during a Formula 2 race in 2009.
What can be done, then? Should the drivers have some sort of protection?
F1 has been working on aircraft-style cockpit canopies for some time. However, the drivers do not like them, fearing they might obstruct their already-limited vision, while some worry that they may not be able to get out of a car that has flipped over. IndyCar officials are considering some kind of deflector but that is at least three years off. However, the greatest block to change could be the tradition that demands open cockpits. That may have to be ditched because there will always be risk when heads are exposed.