The start of the 2016 Formula One season is just a month away, but
Red Bull Racing is already looking ahead to 2017. According to
Motorsport.com, the team has submitted a new car design to the FIA, the
sport’s governing body. The design isn’t about changing the engine or
improving the aerodynamics and downforce. It’s about delivering one of
the greatest safety advances in the sport’s history, one that would
fundamentally alter the look of motorsports’ premier series.
This design, which hasn’t been publicly released, is the latest salvo
in an ongoing and increasingly urgent debate over whether F1 should
finally give up one of its hallmarks: open-cockpit cars. Although the
discussion’s been held for decades, a spate of accidents and some tests
by the FIA could bring the matter to a close, possibly as early as next
year.
Formula One is A remarkably safe when you consider drivers lap tracks
at speeds north of 180 mph, often just inches apart, and occasionally
in the rain. Crashes are common—rare is the mishap-free race—but
injuries are rare and fatalities almost unheard of. There have been just
two in recent history: the incomparable Ayrton Senna died in 1994 after
crashing into a concrete barrier at the Italian Grand Prix. And Jules
Bianchi died nine months after slamming into a tractor that was removing
a wrecked car during the 2014 Japanese grand prix.
Bianchi’s crash fits into a recent pattern unpredictable accidents
that caused severe head injuries. In August, IndyCar driver Justin
Wilson died soon after a chunk of debris flew off another car and struck
his helmet (IndyCar, like F1, features open-cockpit cars). In July
2009, 18-year-old Formula 2 driver Henry Surtees died hours after a
loose wheel hit him in the head. A week later, a 25-ounce suspension
spring came off a car and hit F1 driver Felipe Massa, who was driving at
175 mph during a qualifying round of the Hungarian GP. Massa survived
and eventually returned to racing, but doctors initially feared he’d
lose sight in one eye.
So it’s not surprising that Red Bull joins the chorus of those
suggesting closed cockpits. The idea’s been around for about three
decades, says says Frank Dernie, a retired engineer who spent his career
in F1. “It has been debated for years,” but to date, the downsides of
closing the cockpit have always outweighed the upsides of a change.
There are a handful of challenges involved, not the least of which is
how to increase protection without reducing visibility or making it
harder to extricate a driver after a crash. And then there’s the
traditionalist resistance from those who think that F1 should always
have open cockpit cars, because F1 has always had open cockpit cars.
The FIA’s considering other ideas, too. One potential solution is
inventively named “Additional Front Protection.” It’s essentially a roll
cage, surrounding the driver’s head with bars (no word on what they’d
be made of) spaced closely enough together to block large debris like
wheels. It’s “a less elegant solution” than the canopy, says FIA safety
director Laurent Mekies, but the primary goal is finding ways to protect
the driver and figuring out the rest later. As to visibility, Mekies
says the cage’s vertical bars would likely fade from the driver’s view
as he focuses on what’s ahead in the distance.
Another FIA concept, the “centerline roll hoop,” is something of a
streamlined roll cage comprised of three parallel bars that run from the
car’s nose, over the driver, to a point just behind his head. Such a
design has minimal impact on visibility, but how to extract the driver
after a crash is still TBD.
The FIA said in October that it was testing these concepts, and a
concept Mercedes F1 team developed. Its “halo” concept places an
aerodynamic hoop around the driver’s head and affixes it to the body
just ahead of the cockpit. It is hinged to open like the hood of car,
and provides enough protection to deflect large pieces of debris.
Red Bull hasn’t released any images or renderings of its proposal,
but team boss Christian Horner told Motorsport.com, “We believe it will
be a safer option. It’s more of a canopy than a halo.”
That makes one more idea, at least, to run through the extensive
testing any fundamental change to car design will require. But if things
move swiftly, the FIA says, it could announce changes in time for the
2017 season.
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