#F1 closed cockpit drivers#
#F1 closed cockpit driver#
#F1 closed cockpit series#

#F1 closed cockpit drivers#

Its project was started largely in response to a pair of accidents where drivers were hit in the head by debris from other cars. The FIA Institute has undertaken significant research in this area, and has looked at the drivers helmets, and cockpits in an attempt to increase safety.Ĭlosed cockpits have been on the agenda for some time now, and the FIA institute has already conducted substantial research in this area. Today the cockpit sides are significantly higher than they were, to the point where lateral visibility is limited. There has been a significant increase to the head protection in the last two decades, a process that was started largely as a direct response to the events of the 1994 season that saw both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna lose their lives.

It’s something that has all come about from 2009 when Felipe had his accident.’įormula 1 cockpit safety has increased hugely over the years, from a time where a drivers shoulders and upper body were visible from the side of the car to today where only a portion of their head can be seen. It’s something that we’ve looked at in lots of the Technical Working Group meetings. They are open-wheel, open-cockpit racing cars. ‘It would change the look of Formula One cars, which I guess there is an aesthetic argument for.

#F1 closed cockpit series#

What then would be required to introduce closed cockpits into Formula 1 and other series like it? ‘From a technical point of view it’s something very easy to implement,’ Rob Smedley of Williams F1 claims. But some would argue that these emotional, historical and marketing reasons are not ones good enough to endanger drivers.

#F1 closed cockpit driver#

Open cockpits give the sport the benefit of driver identity, your favourite drivers helmet should be distinctive, and often the only way to tell two team cars apart, it also offers a perception (and reality) of danger, one of the key draws to the sport. ‘If you look at Formula One cars since the beginning of Formula One and open-wheeled racing, I think it’s one of the things that are very special about Formula One’ explained Sebastian Vettel following Bianchi’s crash. Today open cockpits remain largely for reasons of tradition and that has a significant impact. Open cockpits have been part of Formula 1 and other open wheel classes since the birth of the sport, of a time it was felt that it would be quicker to get out of a car on fire with an open cockpit, but then that was the same argument used against having seat belts fitted. ‘We have the technology, we have aeroplanes, we have had many other samples that they use in a successful way so why not think about it? All the biggest accidents in motor sport over the last couple of years have been head injuries so it’s probably one part where we are not at the top of safety.’ ‘We should at least check and try or test the idea of closed cockpits’ Fernando Alonso told the press following Bianchi’s crash. Despite this a number of designs have been subjected to both static and dynamic tests.

Indeed for 2017 additional cockpit protection systems have been included in the draft technical regulations though the details of them is vague at best. More recently Jules Bianchi’s horrific crash at the Japanese Grand Prix, Maria De Villota testing crash in England and the death of Justin Wilson has again brought the topic to the table. This question was raised in the wake of the fatal accidents suffered by Dan Wheldon and Henry Surtees and the near fatal accident of Felipe Massa. ‘Should closed cockpits be used instead of open ones, and indeed why are open cockpits used at all?’ There is an inevitable question raised in the aftermath of any accident where the driver of an open cockpit car suffers a head injury.