Teams considering new kinds of cockpit protection

2011 F1 season

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Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Nurburgring, 2011

A fully enclosed cockpit canopy is among three potential solutions being considered to improve driver protection.

Renault’s James Allison, the new head of the Technical Regulations Working Group at the F1 Teams’ Association, described the three potential solution being evaluated in today’s press conference at the Nurburgring.

Allison said: “This is something that’s been under discussion for a few Technical Working Group meetings now.

“We’re looking to try to look after the driver’s head, both from large scale things like tyres and also small scale things like the very unfortunate incident that Felipe [Massa] suffered [in 2009].

“There are a few suggestions around: one of them was looking into a fully enclosed canopy.

“Another one was looking into a visor-type where it’s still open above the driver’s head but he has a visor in front of him.

“And then there is a third type of proposal as well, where there isn’t a see-through windscreen at all but there is like a roll (bar) structure in front of the driver that would anyway deflect any big objects.

“All those things are still in fairly early discussion and you would have seen from what the FIA proposed, published recently, that they are showing some of the very early research that’s being done into the feasibility and practicality of this type of solution, but there are a lot of questions to answer before we can bring it to a practical solution.

“The closed canopy would have an aerodynamic effect – not a bad one, it would be easier to manage the airflow around a closed canopy than an open one – but there are all sorts of other things to discuss, like egress in the event of an accident, keeping the canopy clean, for example when it might get covered in oil and the like, so each of the proposed solutions has advantages and disadvantages and we need to do the basic research to find out what is the best way forward.”

The FIA has begun research into reducing the dangers of objects striking a driver. In May it conducted tests by firing an F1 wheel and tyre assembly into a fighter jet canopy, which is usually designed to withstand impacts with birds.

Formula Two racer Henry Surtees was killed in July 2009 after being struck by a wheel which had become detached from another car.

The FIA increased the number of wheel tethers at each corner of an F1 car to two this year. In Sergio Perez’s crash at Monaco, where an impact of 80g was recorded, all four wheels remained attached to the car, although the right-front outer tyre was torn from the rim.

Mercedes Norbert Haug said that if canopies were to be adopted, they should also be considered for other forms of single-seater racing.

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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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76 comments on “Teams considering new kinds of cockpit protection”

  1. i wouldnt mind the fully enclosed canopy. they use it in lemans, and the cars still look good.

    1. Ya I agree, I don’t think it takes away much from the looks.

      Think it was Abu Dhabi last year were some one’s tyre was only fractions away from Schumacher’s head in an accident. One of the most scarey things have ever seen, so it is a very real safety concern and obviously to with what happened Massa.

      Some footage of the FIA Institute testing out the fighter jet screens http://www.f1revs.com/2011/07/future-of-f1-cockpits.html They might blend in ok with the cars, more so than roll bar

    2. I’m quite tired at the moment, and I read..

      ‘they use it in lemons’..

      Lemons and Canapés… they go together quite well I thought.

      1. Lol excellent: I had a good laugh there !

      2. There’s an annual race in California called “The 24 Hours of Lemons” in which competitors race old clunkers for 24 hours that they’ve bought for $500 or less. Budgets are unrestricted for roll cages, brakes, and other safety related stuff, but no more than $500 can be spent on the car itself and any performance components. Some friends of mine did it a few years ago and said it was a blast. The way they control the budget cap is by having a rule that by entering the race, you agree to sell your car to the promoters for $500 if they think you’ve overspent. That way no one shows up with a significantly superior car to anyone else. It’s a pretty funny event.

        1. Saw something like that on top gear…

          hell, at that budget I could go racing.

          1. My thoughts exactly..

        2. MuzzleFlash
          23rd July 2011, 15:34

          What a fantastic way of enforcing the rule, reminds me of the way the Athenians used to force the wealthy to fund their navy.

    3. evolunit_X (@)
      23rd July 2011, 9:19

      its surely good for safety…we dont have to wait for tragedy to put this on…we had a warning with Massa and Surtees..it should be done already
      and it doesnt look visualy bad at all to me

  2. Make it look like the X1!

    1. here you have a video of them testing new solutions

      1. UKfanatic (@)
        23rd July 2011, 0:20

        where?

    2. that would be great actually

  3. I appreciate an enclosed cockpit idea is all to improve safety, but how much would this affect how much we as an audience can see the drivers? Especially if there was a big, brutish roll cage, or a visor/windscreen reflecting light everywhere. I like being able to see their heads and helmet designs clearly. I like seeing them lean into corners and at other drivers out the corner of their eyes when side by side. And also the hand movements on the wheel, particularly on twisty tracks. Maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions, but won’t the possible decrease in visibility take away that intensity within watching an F1 race?

    The closed canopy would have an aerodynamic effect

    Now this I do like the sound of. The enclosure could be an area of aerodynamic development Just as much as wings or diffusers. What would Adrian Newey do with a cockpit eh?

    1. Agree with the first bit, i love those small details. The FIA should increase protection without enclosing the driver’s helmet, maybe a small visor or windshield.

    2. I agree about the first paragraph.

      I’m not sure it would be a big area of development though. For one thing, I wouldn’t be suprise if the FIA mandated that all cockpits were standard. For another, it a simple surface, and its contents can’t be packaged differently. Although I suppose making different parts of its surface do different things, like feed the intake and to the wing, is a possibility, I doubt they’d be able to make it very contoured.

      1. Electrolite
        23rd July 2011, 9:37

        I’m not saying they necessarily would. I’m saying they could (and implying they should :P)- and it besides, it would be a nice new variable thrown in the mix and would offer at least one positive aspect other than the safety implications.

  4. dyslexicbunny
    22nd July 2011, 18:30

    Tough. I want to see safety but I think cars with a cockpit would look absurd and other problems were mentioned in the article.

    I’m partial to the rollbar so events like a rogue tire or Schumy driving up on Liuzzi’s car (I think that’s who was involved) last year. Prevents these worst case problems but would still let a spring through.

    If we’re superconcerned about safety, let’s just give them simulators that control unmanned F1 cars. And then we just give drivers two big gulps (7-11 drink that’s 32 oz – 1L each for those without the franchise) to finish so you can add in bathroom breaks. You can even regulate distance from sim to bathroom or decide it through qualifying.

    1. Schumy driving up on Liuzzi’s car

      It was those two – but the other way round. It was lucky Schumacher was unharmed as the wheel was very close to his head.

      1. dyslexicbunny
        22nd July 2011, 19:03

        Close enough for a Friday!

    2. i guess the best soln would be a windshield. cause canopy and rollbar will both cause obstructions incase of an escape when there is a fire n stuff. a bulletproof or high strength windshield would be best?

    3. I don’t want to seem callous, but single-seaters are open cockpit categories. It is part of what makes F1 what it is. Unfortunately danger comes with it. A cockpit canopy would be very difficult to exit from quickly and would ruin the feel- seeing the F1 drivers exposed to the open air and elements helps make it spectacular. A windscreen would be useless in rain. A rollbar might work. It would probably be hideous, but the main concern would be if it obstructed the drivers view.

      Many improvements have been made to F1 cars in the name of safety over the last 60 years, the last 30 especially. But all those changes have made improvements without removing or changing any essential elements. The cars are still open wheeled- even though that can cause worse tangles (Webber in the air last year). They are still the fastest category of racing- even though that has obvious dangers.

      I’d love to see a poll of drivers. perhaps with something like this the best thing is to ask the GPDA- if the drivers say they don’t feel comfortable racing any more without more protection then I’d understand. Otherwise, the FIA is wasting its time.

      1. Agreed…
        A few statistics to also ponder –
        Between 1952-1962,(ten years) 23 F1 drivers lost thier lives.
        Between 1962-1982,(twenty years) 20 F1 drivers were lost.
        Between 1982-2012,(thirty years) 3 F1 drivers died.

  5. I see a lot of drawbacks to a canopy. How do you cool the driver? How do you keep it dry inside? How do you keep it clean outside? Will they have to run wipers in the rain?

    The roll bar idea is appealing but the for the weight issue, and the fact that it would only stop large objects from hitting the driver.

    The only way to truly isolate the driver from exposure is to surround him in a roll cage and sheet metal.

      1. RainX is very effective. I use it on my car.

        1. It’s a good point, what about flies and bugs?

          On a jet fighter, I imagine 1) you’re going so fast, the canopy cleans itself, and 2) at altitude, you don’t get bugs.

          If you have a peice transparent material in front of you, you need to be able to clean it.

  6. Ya I agree, I don’t think it takes away much from the looks.

    Think it was Abu Dhabi last year were some one’s tyre was only fractions away from Schumacher’s head in an accident. One of the most scarey things have ever seen, so it is a very real safety concern and obviously to with what happened Massa.

    Some footage of the FIA Institute testing out the fighter jet screens http://www.f1revs.com/2011/07/future-of-f1-cockpits.html They might blend in ok with the cars, more so than roll bar.

  7. How about dirt sprint car solution? Roll cage overhead with a mesh screen in front?

    1. And a Giant wing on top for advertising,

      1. Driver adjustable, of course.

  8. Certainly a canopy would make the cars look really like the top of the foodchain in motorsports. But it is a bit too far a step. Close the wheels and merge it with endurance prototypes if you do that!

    The windshield sort of thing is not really effective, so i think we might end up with something like the cage construction in the end, protecting against big, heavy objects but not completely enclose.

  9. driving an F1 car with a misted up windscreen would be pretty crazy! You can just imagine the drivers wiping it with their glove on the straights :D

      1. lol reminds me of windscreen wiping scene in The Blues Brothers

    1. I think we can safely assume, they would find away to avoid the misted up windscreen, that you used to get in your 1994 Vauxhall Astra.. I would imagine it’s a matter of pride.

  10. Im all for improving safety, but in the last 20 yesars, how many people hjave been killed in F1 (F1 only!) by an object hitting them?

    The accidents of Surtees was RARE, and Massa’s even more so.

    1. well look at schumi accident in abu dhabi 2010 and also karun and hekki 2010 accident in monaco.

      those accident could of easily cause injuries that would have been prevent from a canopy.

      its irresponsible to wait for someone to die or get injured before you justify a change.You have to be proactive not reactive

  11. If anything i think a windshield with a rigid sort of frame/roll bar around it would most probaly be implemented.

  12. javlinsharp
    22nd July 2011, 20:08

    Yes, Yes, this is an awsome idea!!!

    They should have a completely enclosed cockpit. The hundredes of cockpit intrusions are really bad for the sport, something must be done. But the real issue is the Over-wheel launches. For safety sake, add wheel arches and fenders to protect against these horrible events.

    Since we are on such a good role, lets add a roof, as every one knows, rain comes from clouds but Lighting does too, we MUST protect against that.

    And all these Wings and aero bits, they look sharp, someone could get stabbed, lets do away with those.

    And we all know the most important aspect of driver survivability in a crash is crumple zones. These F1 cars as waay to small, double the width and increase length and hieght.

    Oh wait, all this ‘innovation’ is getting expensive, lets save costs by subcontracting all the development and building to a single company.

    You know this Super Improved F1 needs a new name. Something that sounds Dashing, and invokes thought of Home and Hearth… lets call it NASCAR

    ***Javlinsharp snaps awake from a terrible nightmare

    Its AUTO RACING, Its always been dangerous. Seeing driving heros overcome impossible odds every race is a big part why people watch. If you dont like it, you dont have to do it. These days, nobody really gets hurt anyway, just ask Perez, Kubica, Webber.

    1. There is a difference between being a purist and protecting participants from risk with the best available technology. Nobody wants to detract from the spectacle of racing. But if there is now a solution to protect a driver, which can be quickly removed then for me it’s a no brainer. As for “the danger” aspect, there is a huge difference between risk and avoidable risk, the decision lies in balancing it’s impact on the sport, and this would have little impact so should at least be investigated.

  13. I know fires are really rare in F1 but it’s one of the things that really puts me off about closed cockpits.

    I’m always impressed how the FIA keeps looking into safety improvements. Every time I see a bit of debris on track I always half a split second of worry after what happened at Hungary.

    I have to admit though that closed cockpits don’t really do it for me. Safety has to come first and this is just personal taste but I like how they have the wind in their helmets.

  14. I am really for the jet plane cockpit! I bet we would be able to see a lot more of the drivers actually – at the moment they’re in a high sided pit almost, for aero and safety reasons and the only part you can see of the driver offboard is the helmet bobbling away. With this canopy they wouldn’t need so high a wall and we might actually be able to see them turning the wheel from offboard, which I think would look amazing during overtaking manoeuvres.

    I quite like the idea of having ejector seats too…or a cycle made of two of the wheels if the car takes too much of a beating and needs to self-destruct. (Yes, I just finished the Dark Knight for the umpteenth time)

    1. Good points, it would be quite entertaining for sure, if not all that light; I’m not sure they could do it in 680kg :-p

  15. chavighurst
    22nd July 2011, 20:30

    I’m a relatively new lover of F1 – three years of following every race – and I can’t even believe there’s any positive feelings out there at all about an enclosed cockpit. I checked into the comments fully expecting a riot against it. It’s the first new rule proposal I’ve heard that would truly alienate me from the sport. The tradition is open cockpit/open wheel racing, with the perils and excitement those imply. The cars today are incredibly safe, and yet I can see and feel the drivers hands and head dealing with turns and bumps and G forces. This is not a problem that needs solving.

    1. It’s open wheel racing. Open cockpit is not anywhere enshrined. It would still be open wheel Formula 1 racing if the cockpit were closed.

      As you said, you are new.

    2. This is not a problem that needs solving.

      Why not? Would you like to be responsible for taking that decision and then see a driver get killed because of it a few years after?
      In the last few years we haven’t seen death, but we have seen some incidents that were a few centimetres away from being a deadly accident. Massa at Hungary in 2009 springs to mind, but also the accident in Monaco 2010 where two of the backmarkers parked on top of each other.
      Mark Webber’s Valencia 2010 crash could also end really bad had he landed upside down with his helmet hitting a curb, another car barrier etc. That could have been horrible.
      It would still be open wheel racing.
      The thing I don’t like about it is that it could be harder to see what the driver is doing inside the cockpit.
      But hey it could be an opportunity for placing cameras on the inside of the canopy to have a view that is really near a helmet cam, without having the camera on the drivers head, which ain’t good because it adds weight and stess to his neck.

  16. I am curious about seeing a closed canopy F-1 car. Any good artist out there want to take a shot at a concept?

  17. It is impossible to plan for every thing that can go wrong. Something will always happen that will injure someone. That 1 in a million accident will happen. The only way to prevent those happenings is to get Health and Safety in. That will mean cars top speed restricted to 10 MPH and cars that run on rails, can’t have the little darlings skidding off track. Also computer controlled gaps between the cars to prevent contact. Don’t forget the exposed spinning wheels have to go. They can cause a car to flip. A better idea is to move it all into the virtual world. In there only pixels get bumped so no risk to human well being. I look forward to this nonsense in 2030. It’s racing, there has to be an element of danger or why bother?

  18. IF F1 wants a canopy here is the best thing get an LMP1 car upgrade the aero and guess what you now have cars that are not only relevant to the road as many use production engines used in roads and they will be safe and fast. Just check mcnish crash.

  19. I would imagine a canopy would look like the Red Bull X1 mock up, which i think aesthetically would work fine. Issues come with if the car roles and ends upside down and fires, if they can sort that i can honestly say a canopy wouldn’t bother me.

    X1 image….
    http://rahmadi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/2011-Red-Bull-X1-Prototype-03.jpg

    1. I like the look of the thing, but then I also like the big bulky beast look of the Audi Le Mans car, and those Le Mans cars in general. But those are so clearly a different class of racing, about 500kg heavier I think, with airco etc. And a full floor and front diffuser to boot. For me, the X1 fits into that category, except it’s too light for it, and probably the lack of full floor reduces it’s downforce too much.

      So not really F1; but I could get sort of used to it.

      One thing to consider is that for strength/weight reasons (or is it just cost?), Le Mans cockpits aren’t full canopies but carbon structures with enclosed transparent polymer panels. Wonder what it would do to the CoG of an F1 car.

  20. FI is moving inexorably away from the very essence of
    what the sport was intended to be by it’s early practitioners in the 1960’s and 70’s. The sensible safety enhancements enforced by Mosley’s FIA in response to the appalling slaughter which went on unchecked for decades was exactly right. Such changes were essential.

    Unfortunately, the safety theme was taken up by the Health & Safety Disease Police. And the preception of people in that massive industry is that ALL risks to human beings must be completely eliminated. We must have a world with no risks whatsoever.

    So I have here to make my dissenting voice heard. It is my honest opinion that to take safety measures any further than they are set at present will destroy F1 as a spectacle within five years. There has to be a clear impression of great danger to the participants or the sport will die.

    Already, we can see nothing of the combatants faces.
    Already they are enclosed in a virtual battle tank.
    Already, at the slightest sign of rain, races are stopped. Risk aversion already rules completely.

    And all these are factors that the Health and Safety Fanatics simply cannot grasp. They simply cannot conceive of the idea that human beings might actually
    wish to put their body’s at risk. That taking huge risks is exactly why they do it. For the Buzz they get from doing something hair-raisingly dangerous.

    1. After all that..I say..

      +1!

  21. I thought I would replicate a canopy on a Ferrari. I’m not really much of an artist but I hope it can help fellow F1Fanatics imagine what it would be like.

    http://i1179.photobucket.com/albums/x393/dpodloch/Ferrari-F150-launch-01.jpg

    1. I think it looks really good!

  22. Out of those three options the one that I think best combines safety with the tradition of an open cockpit is the windscreen idea, the only trouble would be keeping it clean, I can just imagine the drivers going along a straight leaning forward to wipe their screen…

    A forward roll bar idea would stop things like other cars and wheels and help in a roll over, but I just don’t think the aesthetics would work.

    Totally enclosing the cockpit could potentially look cool but their are loads of issues involved like keeping it clean, ventilation, waterproofing, and how the driver gets out quickly. Is it feasible that during a crash the “lid” could get jammed closed with the driver stuck inside? Knowing F1 things the things that are taken for granted in road cars like ventilation and keeping the screen clean could be very expensive to implement in F1.

    If its decided the current standard isn’t good enough then perhaps extending the sides of the head restraint forward and having a short screen the height of the drivers helmet may be acceptable I think and that would reduce the risk from other cars and objects that “ride up” the nose of the car.

    1. Well said. Another issue with the enclosed cockpit would be fire – although in the end it is about how fast can egress be.

      The solution you propose, would that look something like the cockpit that many cars in the 80ties had, but higher, like hF1Fanatic: ligier js11-15 at goodwood_2011? I kind of like it, because it reminds me of classic F1 cars :)

      I do wonder how much the windscreen would suffer from a blow by a tyre, as shown in that test footage. It does seem to have deflected it well enough to protect the driver though.

      I don’t see it as a big problem when the car can’t finish the race after that: most important is keeping the driver safe. When a big object hits the car like that I suppose the team would anyway have to check the survival cell’s integrity.

  23. I think the FIA and teams are having a bit of a knee jerk reaction to the Felipe’s unfortunate accident in 2009. I guess there is a case for saying that Henry Surtee’s death is a good arguement for a canopy on the cockpit, but following this incident, tyres are now double teathered. It was rare for one teather to break in the past, so one can only imagine how remote the odds are of two teathers failing? Barring these accidents, when has a driver last been injured by an item striking his helmet?

    Furthermore, I cant really recall that many “near misses” either? I know the Coulthard and Wurz incident in Aus 2006 (or 07?) stands out, but the case there was that their wasnt enough protection on the side of the cockpit. This was addressed and the cockpit had an additional piece of carbon fibre added to make the side of the car higher.

    I say leave things as they are. Every racer knows that when they step into their racing car they know they are putting themself at risk. This goes right down to karting. It’s what attracts people to racing.

    Furthermore, can anyone imagine the heat that a canopy would generate in the cockpit? It’s practically a sauna in the coolest of climates already, imagine how awful it would be in Malayasia, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi? Surely there is then a risk of drivers passing out due to heat exhaustion? Just a thought.

    1. It’s been two years, that’s not really ‘knee jerk’ is it?

      1. It was spoken about at the time after the crash and hasnt really receeded since. I view it as knee jerk.

        1. It’s in reaction to it, no doubt, and the tragic accident that befell Surtees a few days earlier.

          But it’s not knee jerk because they haven’t rushed immediately into a response, clearly they’re giving time to consider if they should respond and how.

    2. This is just a result of thinking of ways to prevent such things for the future, and having tested some effects to know how well they work in principle.

      The next step seems to be to evaluate those results and consider their success and problems with implementing them for F1, including keeping F1 close enough to its formula, taking into account what drivers and teams think, before they start exploring proposals for how a solution would look.

      Only then would they decide – it doesn’t seem very knee jerk, more like a useful effort to see if something extra can reasonably be done or not.

      Remember how long it took for the HANS device to get onto the cars, first idea 1980, prototype ’85; full product done ’91; only after several accidents and a lot of testing it got into Indy Cars in 2001 and F1 mandated it for 2003.

      That’s arguably too long, and now drivers are more aware of the importance of it, but it shows that this idea took 10-15 years at least to come to fruition. The cockpit will be quicker, but still it’s a couple of years before they know they have a safe solution.

  24. I’ve got to say, I’m all for saftey but in 17 years, (in F1 atleast) there has been 1 serious cockpit related injury, and that driver is still racing. Having the canopies could be more of a hinderance than a help – Hard to get out, hot, problems in the rain etc.

    Taking away the open cockpit aspect will take away alot from the sport, if they were going to do this, it would’ve been done may years ago in my opinion, when the risk of injury in the cockpit was far greater. They may aswell cover the wheels incase they fly off!

    A better solution would be to develop new, tougher helmets. Danger will always be in F1, no matter how much you do to combat it.

    1. I think Schumacher’s helmet is reinforced with titanium, at least that’s what he had in 2009 when he planned to fill in for Massa. I wouldnt be suprised he doesnt still use that sort of design today. He leaves nothing to chance.

    2. Grand Prix cars onc used to have enclosed wheels, as a matter of fact. It’s had lots of things many people consider against the fundamental spirit of the sport now. This line always comes up whatever the technological change but it doesn’t hold any water. Enclosed wheels, semi-enclosed wheels, turbos, big motors, small ones, ground effects, six-wheels, active suspension, F1 cars have had it all. That is what F1 is about; it’s not static. So what is the issue of a canopy in this incredible history?

      There should be a canopy or a similar solution. We have been whistling past the graveyard on the catastrophic head injury in F1. As many pointed out, Schumacher was inches from having an immediately fatal head/neck injury in Abu Dhabi last year. No amount of titanium or HANS will save you if a flying wheel or the chassis itself strikes you full in the head. Those who worry the sport’s true essence would be destroyed by a canopy should consider the damage to the sport that would occur from the critial injury or death of a driver in a blatantly obvious and easily addressed risk. Or they forget the crisis of the mid 90s.

      As for the theory that we should not act at all because every margin danger cannot be eliminated, we should all be grateful the same attitude is not taken by air safety regulators or pharmaceutical regulators. It shouldnt apply to F1 either.

  25. I think things are fine without it. Moto GP riders arn’t crying about safety. I think F1 drivers are safer in there F1 car then what the average civilian is in his road car. I could get hit by a car when I’m crossing the road,any day of the week, any day of the year,maybe we all need safety cocoons.

  26. I read about this on the BBC website a couple of days ago. It is a great idea and will increase the safety for the drivers.

    I thing chavinghurst and anyone who is against this has a screw loose.

  27. Canopy’s are just a natural progression of safety in F1. In the early days of racing cars they wore nothing on their heads then came the saucepans perched on top, then came full head helmets, then came full helmets with visors and I think it would be a good thing to go to canopy’s you cant see the driver any more anyway you just know who it is by the colour, it could be one of the pit crew wearing the helmet you don’t know until he takes it of anyway.
    I’m sure a quick release mechanism could be devised from inside or out for easy exit when necessary after all they are used in Lemans series, with little or no problem. Is this just another case of some people don’t like change in general, like the engines or tyres etc etc. This is Formula 1 you know.

  28. I guess reducing the weight of wheels & increasing the strength of the material will help,I am not in favour of a close canopy though many cars (Le Mans 24 HRS) have close canopy but I am not in favour of it.

  29. The FIA has begun research into reducing the dangers of objects striking a driver. In May it conducted tests by firing an F1 wheel and tyre assembly into a fighter jet canopy

    Good to know the FIA are having a bit of fun with the RAF between races…

  30. I think the idea of a cockpit canopy is just a massive over-reaction to a non-existant problem. The idea was floated when Massa had his accident, and promptly rejected. Accidents involving debris entering the cockpit are incredibly rare, and involve thousands of factors the influence the outcome. They’re called “freak accidents” for a reason. And even if cockpits are put in place, these accidents can still occur.

    Motorsport involves risk. The drivers know what they are signing up for. The cars and circuits are already designed with safety in mind. Putting in cockpit canopies isn’t going to remove the risk. All it’s really doing is wrapping the drivers up in cotton wool because of something that might happen. A meteorite might hit the earth tomorrow, but does that mean I spend my days locked up in a fallout shelter?

    1. They are not that rare actually. Massa was really unlucky, but we have also seen quite a few near misses in the past years. Cars driving over each other can be really really dangerous and a canopy would remove a lot of that danger. I don’t see why a new safety feature is a problem? The drivers head is the most exposed part of him, maybe if they introduce an aeroplane like canopy we would be able to see the cars have more power? Maybe return to near 1000 hp from the V6 turbo’s because if there is an accident at high speed the drivers head is not at risk of getting chopped off.

  31. It sounds like someone that does the don’t-ever-take-off-your-bubble-wrap-suit Australian government’s “Smart Traveller” website is heading this up. According to that website you should never travel outside your house… as someone else said lets sit the drivers in simulators to remote control a car going around the track.

    It really is becoming “gentleman, get your handbags” when compared to other forms of motorsport like MotoGP, let alone the Isle of Man TT. I don’t know how those guys manage to walk with those massive balls they have to do that

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