Contents
What safety rules apply in Formula 1, and how do cars and equipment help protect drivers from serious injury?
Racing tracks: what can be found on ordinary roads
The International Automobile Federation (FIA) pays the most attention to tracks. Experts control the departure zones, checking at what angle the car can hit there, and the bumpers, taking into account the allowable impact force on them. Sometimes what is tested during races is also used on ordinary roads. For example, gardrails (the same chippers). On racetracks, they are tested according to several criteria: whether the car bounces off the bump stop on impact, how much it deforms itself and deforms the guardrail.
Thanks to such tests, there are fewer accidents on ordinary roads every year, but often these solutions make racing tracks boring for pilots. In fact, says the former Formula 1 driver Sergey Sirotkin, the sensations from the race are leveled: all the driver needs to do is to overcome the path as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, there are still tracks on which it is impossible to create the necessary safety conditions. All of them fit into the urban environment: there are such expensive ones in Azerbaijan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.
Racer suit: how clothes help pilots survive
Some accidents end in fire. In 2020, Romain Grosjean’s car was torn in half in a collision. The rider spent 27 seconds in the center of the fire and survived. Saved Grosjean suit, which due to its composition can maintain fire resistance for about 30 seconds. Sergey Sirotkin says that pilots do not have the right to go to official sessions (training, qualifications or races) without any piece of equipment. Moreover, the expert stressed, it is necessary that all parts of the body be maximally closed from potential damage.
In this regard, a helmet is an important protective element. It is made according to a 3D model individually for each pilot from a carbon frame and a heavy-duty composite coating. The manufacture of the helmet shell takes several employees full time. The main thing for the developers is to reduce the weight of the equipment with maximum strength: according to the FIA requirements, the weight of the finished helmet cannot exceed 275 grams. That is why they even paint helmets with special paint with “light” compositions – it adds no more than 50-60 grams to the total weight. Protective glass – visor – is made of fire-resistant polycarbonate 3 mm thick.
The neck and head are also protected by a HANS U-shaped carbon headrest. It wraps around the back of the head and neck on both sides, reducing the number of movements that the pilot can make, and thereby not allowing overstrain of the spine during sharp body deviations.
Car device: what in the car prevents serious injuries
Each race car before the start of the season is subject to rigorous crash tests. Experts check all possible impacts, overloads that the car and the pilot can withstand – in total this is a rather high figure, says Sergey. They also take into account how the car dampens the impact: the more aerodynamic elements are damaged, the more severe and dangerous the next collision can be for the pilot.
The strongest element of the car is the monocoque, or cockpit. A monocoque weighing 45 kg can withstand side impacts weighing up to 3 tons and an impact at the top point up to 12 tons. The cockpit is made of carbon fiber – a durable and at the same time lightweight material. A monocoque is a whole structure to which front suspension parts, aerodynamic elements, an engine and pontoons are attached. The fuel tank is located inside the monocoque.
Halo protects the rider’s head from debris. This is a relatively new system, which at one time caused a lot of indignation among the community: it seemed ugly to some, and Toto Wolff, the head of the Mercedes team, even expressed a desire to cut Halo with a chainsaw. Sergey believes that the main drawback of the system lies only in how the geometry of the monocoque itself has changed – now it is not very convenient for pilots to get into the car.
“Formula” uses six-point seat belts, like fighter pilots. The belts are made of polyester, and the fasteners are made of titanium alloy, which can withstand a load of 1,5 tons. The weight of the entire system is approximately 800 grams. In Formula 1, seat belts are responsible for the correct distribution of the load on the pilot’s body upon impact. It is important that they are fixed evenly throughout the body.