Massa shows crash helmet damage (Video)

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Felipe Massa has shown Brazilian television the damage caused to his crash helmet when it was struck be a piece of Rubens Barrichello’s suspension in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Kareem Shaya estimated how hard Massa was hit for us earlier this year and came to the conclusion that:

Massa would have been 14 times better off being hit by Nolan Ryan fastball. He would have been four times better off letting Barry Bonds take a full-force swing at his head. For that matter, in terms of sheer energy, he’d have been better off letting Barry Bonds hit him in the head at the same instant that someone shot him point-blank with Dirty Harry’s gun.

It’s quite phenomenal that the crash helmet was able to withstand such a force to the extent that Massa got away with survivable injuries. Had he been wearing an earlier generation of helmet this story would have had a much worse outcome.

People talk of ‘miracle escapes’ but credit really ought to be paid to helmet designers Schuberth and the FIA for increasing helmet safety standards.

Felipe Massa Hungary crash

Via @lookingspiffy on Twitter

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Massa shows crash helmet damage (Video)”

  1. I wonder what will become of that helmet, will it go into the Ferrari museum or does Felipe get to keep it, after all, he owes his life to it!

    1. He says right at the end of the video that he will keep it “just like it is, in my house”.

  2. Jesus that blow was so close to his eye, it brings that whole awful day back.
    I think Felipe will keep the helmet, maybe in a few years or at the end of his career he will give to Ferrari.

  3. Kareem’s analogy is superb, love it.

    In terms of the satefy lest not forget the HANS too, probably saved Massa’s life, not to mention Heikki’s life last year.

  4. Did Kareem have to come up with such Americanised examples? Who on earth are Nolan Ryan and Barry Bonds?!

    1. Nolan Ryan, Baseball pitcher and several time award winner for the fact he threw multiple games without as much as the other team hitting the ball. He could consistently throw a baseball over 100mph. Barry Bonds also baseball player, but 1 of the few who can hit pitchers who pitch the ball that fast.

  5. Massa should dedicate his next win to Schuberth and that helmet.

  6. Ditto Ned, I would be able to visualise those facts so much better if it was Steve Harmison and Kevin Pieterson instead of Nolan Ryan and Barry Bonds.

    Congrats to Jens by the way :D

    1. for me, brett lee and adam gilchrist…

  7. I thought it was quite nice to see Felipe M. wave the chequered flag today at Interlagos…

    I wish him a successful comeback !

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