Would a covered cockpit have helped Bianchi ?

[JoeE]

thought the same when I saw that...must be a lot of spare resin around Brackley

[ojlopez]

Maybe a tank like cockpit would have saved him. The impact was too brutal for anything except something from Mad Max to survive.

[cossie]

Having worked EMS at the Milwaukee Mile and Road America the best safety team was Cart and champcar hands down. Dr. Olvey and Dr.Trammel were the best. The y would go over everything. We had to be recertified every year to work with the series .n nascar was a joke for safety they were still allowing teams to smoke in the pits as of 2007until a gas man caught fire. He just had superficial burns but the Mile people told NASCAR no more smoking in the pit area.

[poolboy67]

710kg hitting a 6500kg loader at 126kph. in those numbers a helmet and a human head are soft materials. as would almost be anything short of a nuclear bunker.

there currently is no clear material that can withstand such impacts. also i don't think it's a safe idea to have anything in the way of getting out of the car quickly.

this was, as they say, a freak accident. caused by the driver's negligence and poor weather/track conditions. a combination of several factors that all just happened to come together. avoidable. but still nothing or no-one could've ever predicter or prepared this to happen, as there already are safety rules like the yellow flag. which bianchi kinda failed to obey.

[Hail22]

Source: AMuS (apologies for the poor google translation)

Such is the Mercedes - concept

Mercedes has unveiled a concept with which the head of Formula 1 drivers can be better protected. An annular bracket above the cockpit to provide more security . We show you in the video animation , and in the gallery , as the idea might affect the look of the F1 cars.

Mercedes has presented at a meeting of the Technical Working Group a concept of how the risk can be further minimized. This is an oval handle, which extends from the cockpit back until the driver head and rests there with a central strut in the front cockpit rim.

Allow the driver to quickly leave the cockpit at risk , this bracket is attached to two hinges behind the cockpit. He should classes be folded with one hand up. Representatives of the teams that have already seen this device speak of a halo above the driver's head . Disrespectful voices call it a toilet seat .

This could be an outcry among fans . The look of the car is significantly changed by the bracket . In the end, the aesthetic reasons could prevail against the security. Racers have to live with a certain residual risk.

[astracrazy]

how annoying and distracting would that post be in front of you

[WaikeCU]

If Merc threaten to leave the sport if these changes aren't implemented, then they just can go. I thought it's the first of April, but we aren't even halfway March.

[FoxHound]

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/mas ... 28/bd6.png

If Merc threaten to leave the sport if these changes aren't implemented, then they just can go. I thought it's the first of April, but we aren't even halfway March.

Have I missed something?

[Andres125sx]

What if the car is upside down?

Driver would be trapped

To avoid this the horizontal arms should go directly to the upper part of the air intake. This way with the car upside down those arms would be paralel to the ground if not resting on it, so they wouldn´t be a problem, but with this design those arms will be blocking the space drivers currently have to leave the car when upside down

[dmjunqueira]

Source: AMuS (apologies for the poor google translation)

Such is the Mercedes - concept

Mercedes has unveiled a concept with which the head of Formula 1 drivers can be better protected. An annular bracket above the cockpit to provide more security . We show you in the video animation , and in the gallery , as the idea might affect the look of the F1 cars.

Mercedes has presented at a meeting of the Technical Working Group a concept of how the risk can be further minimized. This is an oval handle, which extends from the cockpit back until the driver head and rests there with a central strut in the front cockpit rim.

Allow the driver to quickly leave the cockpit at risk , this bracket is attached to two hinges behind the cockpit. He should classes be folded with one hand up. Representatives of the teams that have already seen this device speak of a halo above the driver's head . Disrespectful voices call it a toilet seat .

This could be an outcry among fans . The look of the car is significantly changed by the bracket . In the end, the aesthetic reasons could prevail against the security. Racers have to live with a certain residual risk.

http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Mer ... 849719.jpg

http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Mer ... 849721.jpg
http://img3.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Mer ... 849723.jpg
http://img1.auto-motor-und-sport.de/Mer ... 849725.jpg

Now that this issue has resurfaced, FIA rushed the plans for new closed cockpit tests next month (this Mercedes concept is one of the ideas to be tested):
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-s ... kpit-tests

[Just_a_fan]

The inquiry into Bianchi's accident showed that a canopy, or similar, wouldn't have helped him.

Wilson's accident is a sad event but they can't make motor sport risk free. The law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head and hurt/kill someone in an unanticipated way that was only possible because of the changes.

[Andres125sx]

The inquiry into Bianchi's accident showed that a canopy, or similar, wouldn't have helped him.

To me that was a way to say "this was unavoidable", because if they say a closed cockpit would have saved him, then there would be a lot of complains and noise, and even Jules´ family could be affected. But nobody can know how a closed cockpit would have changed the outcome. It may have reduced Gs as any other structure between the crane and the driver, or it may have pushed the crane instead of being directly the helmet... nobody can know for sure, but we can be sure it would have never been harmful

And for example, Maria de Villota would be alive with closed cockpits, as Justin Wilson, both lives would have been saved by a closed cockpit.

There have been some die in LMP or DTM that could have been saved with an open cockpit? I doubt it, but don´t see those series so someone who does please reply.

Wilson's accident is a sad event but they can't make motor sport risk free. The law of unintended consequences will rear its ugly head and hurt/kill someone in an unanticipated way that was only possible because of the changes.

Except the changes (closed cockpit) are used all around in all sort of series, and they´ve proved to be safer.


BTW, I still think Mercedes concept would trap the driver if the car is upside down

[Belatti]

Except the changes (closed cockpit) are used all around in all sort of series, and they´ve proved to be safer.

Wich series?

[BanMeToo]

I think he just meant it generally. LMP cars, GT cars, etc.

[scuderiafan]

The one thing about closed or otherwise caged cockpits that I'm not sold on is how a driver will escape in the event that the car is turned upside down. Some have mentioned it here. I still believe that an enlarged windscreen, like Lola's proposal is the best bet.