Formula 1 and the Relationship Between Death, Danger, Safety and Popularity

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: December 15, 2013

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The biggest problem with modern Formula One, despite what you may read elsewhere, is not Pirelli, nor the difficulty of passing without the drag reduction system, nor the financial struggles of various teams.

It is the lack of danger.

The spectre of death no longer hangs over every Grand Prix and, while this is certainly a positive development, it has robbed Grand Prix racing of some of its essence.

Indeed, the sport’s current problems would have seemed quaint to the drivers of F1’s primitive years, who worried more about whether they would survive the race than about tyre compounds or sponsorships.

Former F1 driver, Anthony Davidson, said in an interview with The Guardian that "I feel a driver should be challenged and should be punished for mistakes. It's what makes people follow the sport in quite a gruesome way—it's the danger, racing drivers should be heroes."

* * *

A Blood Sport No More

I was sitting with a friend at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve when the young Polish driver, Robert Kubica, lost control of his car at 300 kph approaching the casino hairpin at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.

His BMW Sauber clipped Jarno Trulli’s Toyota and was launched over a small embankment, hitting a concrete wall head-on before spinning and rolling across the circuit, pieces of metal and carbon-fibre showering the racetrack.

What was left of the car slammed into a steel barrier on the opposite side of the track and finally came to rest on its side.



Sitting at the far end of the circuit, with the roar from the engines of 18 other cars powering around the track, I must have only imagined that I heard the impact, but I will never forget the images on the screen and the silence of 100,000 spectators as Kubica was extricated by the medical team. We thought he was dead.

And 20 years earlier, he would have been. Thankf...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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