Formula 1 Safety

How is Safety Maintained in F1?

By Charlie (S)

Douglas Adams once said:

"It's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end,"

The main danger of crashes in Formula 1 is the very sudden deceleration. Most humans can't handle over 9 g's of force (Where 1 g is the acceleration due to gravity on Earth). Because of this, most of the safety systems in F1 revolve around reducing the acceleration felt by the driver.

Acceleration = Change in Velocity / Time Taken

During a collision, momentum is conserved, meaning that the energy of a Formula 1 car is transferred into the barriers; because of this, most barriers need to have some "give" to them, so they don't result in an instantaneous stop (shown above). This is similar to the difference between punching a pillow and punching a concrete wall.

As the time taken for the car to come to a complete stop increases, the acceleration experienced by the driver decreases, resulting in a safer crash. Therefore, most safety equipment in Formula 1 is designed to increase the time taken to come to a complete stop. This includes Crash Barriers, helmets, the HANS device, and the "crumple zone" of the car.

Different types of crash barriers are more effective in different parts of the track; for example, at a high -speed corner gravel traps can be used to slow the car down, decreasing the energy exerted on the driver when the car eventually hits the wall.

‘ Te c p r o ’ b a r r i e r s a r e s p e c i a l l y d e s i g n e d t e s s e l l a t i n g ( r e p e a t i n g pattern) barriers that comprise a red absorbent foam block that absorbs e n e r g y v e r y e f f i c i e n t l y , a n d a stronger grey reinforced block to prevent cars from penetrating the barrier and injuring spectators. The t e s s e l l a t i o n s h e l p t h e T e c p r o Barriers help to spread the impact out over the entire barrier, as opposed to just a small section of the wall.

On a long straight, concrete barriers and guard rales can be used as. Despite being terrible at absorbing the impact from a head-on collision, concrete barriers are very effective at deflecting the cars so that they run parallel to the barrier and are slowed down by friction. As concrete walls are better at shallow angle crashes, where the car is colliding with the barrier is close to parallel with the barrier; concrete walls are often much closer to the edge of the track so that the car has less time to turn to face the barrier head-on.

Overall safety is an incredibly important consideration around the world of Formula One. For example, despite its initial controversies, the HALO has displayed its importance a multitude of times since its creation, most notably during Romain Grosjean's crash in Bahrain 2020. Crash barriers help to protect both drivers and spectators, and are therefore essential technology for the continuation of the sport.