Just before the beginning of the 2017 F1 season, everybody is looking forward.
So does former FIA president Max Mosley. However, he is most concerned.
When asked about the new regulations he says “In my eyes it can be the wrong direction in terms of safety. If I had to say, I’d choose less aerodynamics and more mechanical grip.” Although already 76 years old, the Brit follows F1 with a keen interest.
“The choice of making cars faster is dubious, because in the previous forty or fifty years FIA always introduced new rules to make the sport slower or safer. The more speed, the more dangerous.” Mosley explained in an interview with ITV.
The 60’s (12) and 70’s (11) were littered with lethal F1 accidents. Since then the amount of deaths has been curbed. (this counts is in the broadest sense, so tests, practices and other events)
The 80’s saw “only” 4 deaths: Patrick Depailler, Gilles Villeneuve, Riccardo Paletti and Elio de Angelis. Then 8 years without casualties until that fatal weekend in 1994 at Imola where both Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna died.
Those were the last deaths until Jules Bianchi’s accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in October 2014.
Most if not all of those deaths in the 60’s to 80’s were not caused so much be the speed of the cars but more the poor safety standards of the cars, as compared to modern cars. Just look at Alonso’s 40G crash in Aus last year where he walked away with a few cracked ribs to to see who far driver safety has come. The old fart from the nanny state is being a bit naive to compare driver safety of the modern cars to the death traps of the 60 & 70’s. The last death in F1 was not cause by speed but rather having a recovery vechile not suited to a side impact with an F1 car.
And to be perfectly clear NO ONE HAS EVERY DIED BECAUSE OF SPEED. Speed doesn’t kill. INERTIA KILLS. If speed kills why are we able to travel at Mach 2 and survive? It’s not the speed that kills you it’s the sudden stop that gets you. Inertia!