#formula 1 safety

[bucket-of-f1]

Fernando Alonso

So this guy.

Fernando Alonso of Spain is currently the oldest driver on the Formula One grid. Born on July 29, 1981, he celebrated his 43rd birthday in the middle of last season.

He entered F1 in 2001 and raced until 2018, then joined back in 2021. So 2001-2018, 2021-2025 (and beyond). That's 22 seasons of F1 at 43 years old, so 51% of his life. And let's not forget, he didn't just take a little siesta while he wasn't in F1. This man is a true multi-disciplinary-athlete:

While in a full F1 season No full F1 season

2017: - One race with Mclaren-Honda-Andretti in Indycar

2018: - Full season of WEC (World Endurance Championship) with Toyota Gazoo Racing, together they earned 1st place in the Championship (due to a strange schedule shift, this championship straddled 2018-19, so I'm just going to mention it in the 2019 bullet) - 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota Gazoo Racing (which he WON) - One race with United Autosports in IMSA (American endurance racing)

2019: - WEC 2018-19 season - 24 Hours of Le Mans with Toyota Gazoo Racing (which he won AGAIN) - One race with Konica Minolta Cadillac in IMSA

2020: - Dakar Rally (even after 2 crashes he ran the second fastest time of the event) (he reportedly wishes to go back to Dakar after his F1 retirement) - One race with Arrow McLaren SP (Indycar)

So yeah. The guy can race. And he's been doing it for over half his life. With as long of an F1 run as he's in, you get some ups and downs.

And boy has he had them.

For instance:

In the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix, we were treated to this gem of a shot:

Yep, that is Alonso flipping off a Williams.

Man, that looks like a nasty crash. I wonder if the Williams hit him? I mean, a reaction like that would be warranted by a collision-

Oh.

He just.

Hit the wall.

In his defense, the Williams effectively attempted to defend by hugging the inside of the tunnel section, where Alonso's Renault was obviously faster, and the Williams, driven by Ralf Schumacher, was about to be lapped. This wasn't a fight for position. If passed, Ralf remained in 11th place, as Alonso was in second.

Alonso accused R. Schumacher of dangerous driving. Nothing much came of it, aside from the fantastic screenshot that is Alonso giving Ralf the bird.

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There was also the bit where he passed Michael Schumacher at 130r: because Michael had kids. Here's the clip, then I'll explain.

Alonso, a young driver, had the boldness that most young drivers tend to have. At 24 years old, Alonso wanted the win, and in his way was seven time world champion Michael Schumacher. Something to note is that Alonso had already won the championship. He didn't need the win so badly that a pass as dangerous as this would be considered necessary.

While badass, it should be known that this was incredibly dangerous. Had Schumacher understeered or not backed out, this would have been one of the fastest crashes in Formula One history, and considering the safety innovations that were missing back then, they both likely would have died.

When asked about the pass, Alonso dropped one of the hardest lines in the history of the sport: "I knew he'd brake; he has a wife and two kids at home."

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Mr. V (who I credit and will continue to credit a lot on this blog) made an ELO engine to rank F1 drivers. ELO engines are used to calculate a chess player's skill, and Mr. V coded one for F1 using data against other drivers in equal machinery (teammates). You should watch the video, but long story short:

Alonso is the highest ranking driver in the history of the sport (according to the program, which isn't exactly perfect but still is a cool measure and fact) (at the time of publication, he has updated the ELO engine, although admits it has a host of new issues he's attempting to fix).

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Alonso has also had some really nasty crashes over his career. At 2003 in interlagos, he and Mark Webber were involved in a post race incident leading their cars to look like this:

This crash was so high impact that Alonso wasn't on the podium despite finishing top 3, because the medics were still investigating and hadn't cleared him. Luckily, he and Webber survived (relatively) unscathed:

Start at 1:13 for the Webber/Alonso crash.

That bit left over, the "cockpit" Alonso and Webber sat in, is designed like that on purpose: it's known as the survival cell, and as seen in the crashes above, it's the part that stays together. The car spins apart at high impacts, dispersing the energy from the crash in every direction but the driver themselves.

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He also had a mysterious crash during testing with McLaren in 2015 that was largely… quieted? There’s not a lot of details about how the accident happened — what we do know is that that year’s McLaren was plagued with issues, technical and mechanical. There’s stories of a small explosion, an electrical current shock, memory loss, etc.

The explosion idea is largely chalked up to be a shadow on the side of the car that some people took to be a burn mark. The electrical shock I think has something to do with telemetry or the nature of the accident, not sure exactly where that came from. The memory loss is actually founded in truth: Alonso suffered a concussion from the accident resulting in temporary memory loss — he was reportedly confused to be in a Formula One car, and told doctors that the year was 1995, saying: “I'm Fernando, I'm in karts and want to become Formula 1 driver.”

Here’s some forums from around that time discussing the accident. And yes, you’ll see all kinds of theories on here — F1 has its own conspiracy theorist community and some of them are wild.

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In 2016, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez came together down a fast stretch. Alonso mispredicted when Gutierrez would hit the brakes, and the resulting contact at 189 MPH (305 KPH) caused a 45 G rollover crash. Thankfully, though the crash looks terrible, the rollover-nature of the accident meant that the forces exerted upon Alonso were minimal, and he walked away from the accident with little assistance. He later said that he got out of the car as fast as he could so that his mother, who he knew watched his races, would know he was okay.

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And finally, some of my favorite pictures.

After the 8th round of the 2012 season, the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, this is what the scoreboards looked like.

Alonso with 111 points, Ferrari with 122.

Alonso raced for Ferrari. 90.98% of their points were from HIM ALONE.

Going into this race, the season had seen a different winner every race for the first seven races. The race saw Alonso's 19th victory and second of the season, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton retirements, and Michael Schumacher's first podium since 2006 (six year gap, although he was on retirement during the 2007-2009 seasons).

The race has some good action, I recommend looking up the highlights.

[argentinesunshine]

has this been done yet

[formulanni]

The Safety Car as The Tower:

The Tower is commonly interpreted as meaning danger, crisis, destruction, and liberation. It is associated with sudden unforseen change.

@st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls

[pucksandpower]

Buckle up or else Fernando Alonso will personally crash into you and 3,499 other people today 😭

From pestocheese on X

[christiangeistdorfer]

JACQUES LAFFITE giving a lift to NIKI LAUDA and ALAIN PROST at the 1984 DALLAS GRAND PRIX

[vroomvroomthings]

Nico waiting for the McLaren driver swap so that the Safety Car can be deployed so he doesn't get run over:

[badeditz0]

[bucket-of-f1]

the second fact (pt. 2)

bucket here

I’d just like to note that the instant I sent the ask I started writing in the hopes you would say yes and I like actually squeaked I was so happy when you did and also I’ve been writing nonstop since then so bear with me:

*takes deep breath*

Safety restrictions were famously lax in F1 until the 1990s. The deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna within days of each other at the 1994 Imola GP sparked a huge movement for new safety systems, especially barrier changes. As Senna and Ratzenburger both died in accidents related to the fact that the safety barriers at the edges of tracks were just CEMENT WALLS, this was a huge push for many teams, drivers, and tracks. No one wanted the death of more legends on their hands. These accidents also inspired additions like headrests in 1996 and the HANS system (head and neck support), put in place in 2003. HANS can be seen when drivers get out of the car — it’s that space-age looking neck brace/strap on their shoulders and helmet.

Some safety systems that are much less talked about are things like the accelerometer, first used in 2014 and placed in the drivers ear. This measures the forces during impacts, and its location in the ear allows both for less invasive placement and accurate data on head/neck movement for drivers. This then leads to better safety systems capable of being studied, reasoned for, and implemented. The addition in 2016 of a camera that faces the driver also allows for safety teams to see exactly how the driver is affected during crashes, as well as giving fans a fun camera angle (which I can rant about as well, camera angles in F1 are a huge thing for me). 

Rapid fire safety systems (there will be a quiz):

Helmets were first introduced in 1952, but not required until 1977.

Seatbelts/racing harnesses required starting 1972.

Fireproof race suits have been required since 1975.

The safety car didn’t even exist until 1993 (trial runs in 1992, first seen in 1973 Canadian GP)

Pit lane speed limit introduced in 1994. Yes, before this they just ripped through as fast as they could; no, the pit crews didn’t stand any further away.

Wheel tethers introduced in 1999 after an unholy amount of incidents going back to pre-1950 (AKA official F1 start) where the wheels just came off and smacked drivers, marshals, and fans, usually killing them instantly.

The most notable safety system recently is the Halo and VSC (virtual safety car). The halo was put in place in 2018 and will hopefully never leave. It has been the savior of hundreds of lives throughout Formula series, but most well known in Formula 1 were Lewis Hamilton (2021 Monza GP, stopped Max Verstappen's car from becoming a permanent fixture in the side of his head) and Romain Grosjean (2020 Bahrain GP, pushed the crash fencing up away from his head as he hit the barriers), as well as possibly Zhou Guanyu (2022 British GP, flipped upside down and up over tire barriers into catch fencing) and Max Verstappen (2021 British GP, incredibly hard hit into a tire barrier — 51G impact at 160 MPH/257 KPH). 

There had been a number of close calls that brought up the possibility of halos, like Fernando Alonso almost having his head removed from this world at Spa in 2012 on lap one, and an incident between Michael Schumacher and Vitantonio Luizzi at Abu Dhabi in 2010 that left Luizzi’s Force India inches from Schumacher’s face.

Unfortunately, it took the horrific death of Jules Bianchi in 2014 at the Japanese GP and a number of junior driver fatalities for the Halo to be finally seriously considered and implimented. Bianchi’s incident also led to the Virtual Safety car, which was put in place in 2015 to keep accidents like his from happening. I can talk more about his incident as well if you’d like. It’s a masterpiece of administrative fuck ups and terrible oversights.

(Ask me about it and camera angles I dare you)

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[margaretthotcher]

I'm having thoughts about the race again so bear with me.

As much as I'm happy happy for Max and the alpines, this is a race that legitimately just should not have happened. We had 5 crashes that caused red flags in a single quali, with so many more yellows from near misses. We had a driver spin off in the formation lap, I don't care how bad you think Lance Stroll is, a driver doesn't just spin on a Formation Lap like that unless the conditions are dangerous. We had multiple drivers saying that the track was not safe including a heartbreaking radio where Ollie Bearman tells his engineer to talk to the FIA because he is just trying not to die at this point. And that is Before Franco Colapinto crashed causing the 6th red flag in a day. Not to mention all of the unsafe stewarding decisions made like calling red flags and safety cars too late all weekend.

I don't care if it made entertaining racing to some people, drivers have died in wet races like this and I watched the race terrified we could see another. We are so so lucky that none of the crashes were worse.

I am not shocked but am incredibly disappointed that people are focusing on the swing in the championship and Lando's media comments and not the dangerous position every single driver was put in on Sunday.

I think the GPDA can argue with the FIA over swearing all they want, because lets face it, the swearing thing is stupid, but they should also be fighting for safer conditions to drive in because races like this and like Qatar last year show that the FIA currently has little regard for when track and weather conditions threaten driver safety.

[bottomop81]

thinking thoughts… if you wanted oscar to win and got mad that he didn’t, why would you get mad at lando for winning rather than at max who was behind oscar and the one who complained about the braking on the radio?

[formulanni]

Pierre Gasly as The Star:

After the collapse of the tower, the star suggests the possibility for rebirth, rejuvenation, and overall - hope. It is a phase in which one has trust and faith in oneself and in the universe around them.

The Star signifies a renewal of spirit, bringing forth calmness, serenity, and an optimistic outlook for the future. This card represents a strong connection to one's spirituality and the potential for emotional and physical healing.

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls

[slutforpringles]

Formula One are considering increasing the pit lane speed limit as a potential solution to increase the viability of multiple strategies for each race and prevent every race being a nailed on one-stop, as has been the case in most recent races. This is despite the fact that the pit lane speed limit has been in place since 1994 to protect both drivers and pit lane crew/mechanics/bystanders etc, with even slower speeds being introduced in 2004 (100km/h) and then in 2017 (80km/h). I understand Formula 1 and the FIA's desire to increase entertainment and racing spectacle, but I genuinely think it's a slap in the face to drivers, teams and fans if the only way that the "pinnacle of motorsport" can make racing exciting is by compromising on safety.

via: The Race | Jonathan Noble | Does F1 have a left-field solution to its 'one-stop epidemic'?

[its-a-mystery-literally]

Duo of safety car memes <3

[georgiasbrainstuff]

How was Yuki supposed to make it through Q1 when he was driving a lizard?

[landoposition]

george putting out everything we (lando fans) have been saying about max feels satisfying. in a way.

[glorybax]

No, see, Norris' penalty has been given as a safety thing. They don't want people to go too fast in double yellow flags, the whole point is to discourage them doing that!!

Drivers can and HAVE died when others ignore yellow flags.

Quit your complaining about this, instead point your anger towards the fucking idiots who decided that a double yellow on the straight was sufficient enough for that wingmirror on the track. Should have been a VSC at MINIMUM from the words "wingmirror on the track"