F1 2017 changes driver#A 6mm layer of carbon and Zylon stops carbon-fibre splinters from injuring the driver during a crash. It consists of 12 layers of carbon-fibre mats, with individual threads five times thinner than human hair, and a honeycombed aluminium layer between the mats for increased rigidity. In the main, this is down to the ‘monocoque’: a reinforced, composite chassis that incorporates the driver’s survival cell and cockpit. Modern Formula One cars can withstand enormous forces during a crash. There were still accidents, but there wasn’t another death on an F1 race track for 20 years. Crash tests were introduced for the side structures and roll bars. Side headrests were extended to the steering wheel. The chassis was extended further in front of the driver’s feet and had to withstand more force. Cockpit openings were made longer and narrower and the sides raised over drivers’ shoulders. New rules saw restrictions to dimensions of the front and rear wing, modifications to the airbox to reduce engine power and a 10mm wooden plank fixed under each car to make sure they weren’t too low. It took the deaths of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna and Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger during the 1994 Italian Grand Prix to force the FIA to improve safety standards. F1 2017 changes drivers#Other drivers like Nikki Lauda and Jackie Stewart survived high-speed crashes, but only just. This was either during races or while testing cars. In the past, F1 drivers weren’t so lucky when they crashed their cars.īetween 1950, when the first World Championship for drivers took place, and 1986, when Italian driver Elio de Angelis died after crashing his Brabham BT55 at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, 36 Formula One drivers lost their lives. With this data, the FIA was able to work out what was going on during each millisecond of Alonso’s accident from the moment he lost control until his car stopped moving.Īlonso missed the Bahrain Grand Prix two weeks later, but was back in the seat for the third race of the season and ended up 10th in the World Drivers’ Championship. Regulations also required an accelerometer in the driver’s earpiece to measure the forces on their head, and an accident data recorder to measure external forces. There have been many other high-speed Formula One crashes, but this was the first from which race organisers could gather so much information about what was happening and why.įor the 2016 season, the FIA, Formula One’s governing body, had stipulated that each car must be fitted with a rear-facing high-speed camera. Despite all this, the driver walked away with only minor injuries. When the vehicle finally landed, the car recorded a longitudinal acceleration of 20G. Alonso’s car rolled through 540 degrees, was airborne for 0.9 seconds and the driver struck his head twice against his headrest. Impact took place at 305km/h and the Spaniard’s car hit the wall with a peak lateral deceleration of 45G, rising to 46G during one of the flips. Gutierrez managed to stop his car on the track.Īlonso was travelling at 313km/h when he tried to overtake Gutierrez. He slammed into the left-hand wall, careered into the air, flipping over and over before stopping against the tyre wall at the back of the gravel trap. Alonso clipped the rear of the car in front, destroying his vehicle’s front-right suspension. It was lap 19 and Alonso, in his McLaren-Honda, was just behind Esteban Gutierrez in the Haas as the two cars entered the braking zone between turns two and three. In last year’s season-opening Melbourne race, Spain’s former world champion Fernando Alonso was involved in a horrific crash. The 2017 Formula One (F1) season starts with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on 26 March.
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