Circuit safety back in the spotlight
A new tragedy was narrowly averted during the opening practice sessions of the Monaco Grand Prix. This has rekindled the debate about the need to protect drivers' heads.
The first practice session on Thursday morning was quietly nearing its end when the red flag was waved all around the Monaco circuit.
The reason for this interruption of the session was the dislodging of a manhole cover by the passage of Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes. It then flew off and struck Jenson Button’s McLaren head-on, which was coming right behind.
The damage to the Briton’s car was significant, as the driver explained: « The day was made more difficult on my side of the garage by the manhole cover, which came loose and broke my front wing, front suspension, brake caliper, and the floor. »
If fortunately the damage is only material, one can imagine the consequences this same incident could have had if this piece of metal had risen higher and hit the driver at head level. Remembering the damage caused by the impact of a damper on Felipe Massa’s helmet during the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, one can easily imagine the consequences of a much larger piece of metal.
Jenson Button did not hide his anger that such an accident could happen on an F1 circuit: « A circuit is a controlled environment, and we already take enough risks as race drivers. Normally, the safety standards are very good here, but this is the kind of incident we don’t want to see anymore. We were lucky that the drain cover stayed close to the ground. »
This could only reignite discussions around protections for drivers, between the two concepts proposed so far, the Halo or the aero screen. When asked about this during the team principals’ press conference, Paul Monaghan of Red Bull sidestepped and redirected the issue to the FIA, which is responsible for technical regulations: « This is not an easy question because it involves the FIA, which is not represented here. What we can say is that there are two systems available: the halo and the aero screen. Both have advantages, both have disadvantages. As long as the evaluation is still ongoing, I think we need to let the process continue. »
But it is a cruel twist of fate that such an incident precisely occurs on the day when Jules Bianchi’s family formalizes their decision to file a lawsuit against the various F1 officials concerning the French driver’s accident.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
