F1 Driver Head Protection

~Mike~

~Mike~

~Mike~

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Charlie Whiting has said some form of driver head protection will be introduced.

"There has to be something to try to prevent a wheel hitting a driver's head," Whiting told BBC Sport.

He added that roll-over protection in front of the driver "is the most likely option in my opinion".

But he emphasised that "the research should be done first, so we are able to come up with something that works".
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Full article http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18104886

Video of roll-hoop test here
FIA Institute testing forward roll hoops to increase driver protection


Driver safety is important but the idea of a roll-hoop just looks horrible.
 
How is putting a bunch of scaffolding in front of the driver a good idea?

This is an even worse idea than the canopy.
 
godinman said:
Has there been any 225km/h wheels flying at drivers heads recently? Has it ever happened?
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Henry Surtees was killed a couple of years ago from a tyre landing on his head, but this roll hoop wouldn't have stopped that anyway as the tyre came down from above.
 
No. But obviously there was the Massa incident.

With regards to head protection, the only real solution is a closed canopy, but then you're introducing problems maintaining a comfortable (or survivable) heat level within the cockpit which in places like Malaysia would require some kind of air conditioning and therefore a lot of extra weight. Plus the problem of getting a driver out of a car quickly, or out of a car which has rolled over.

The forward roll hoop idea in the OP article is just plain retarded. It blocks far too much of the drivers forward vision. We would have to start injecting the drivers with midichlorians so they can use the force to see where they/other cars are.

I think an open canopy is one of the things which makes formula racing what it is. Flying debris is a risk that cannot be avoided.

Anyway, weren't wheel tethers supposed to stop flying wheels? Have the FIA admitted defeat with that idea?
 
Didn't Massa get hit by a bolt of something? Would probably have gone through the gaps in the bar anyway.

I think they should keep them open, seems like they're trying to fix a problem that isn't actually there...
 
health and safety gone mad, why dont they just put the car inside a huge bubble incase something extremely rare that i dont believe has ever happened in f1 does happen.

isnt the only fatality in f1 from an object hitting someones head that poor bloke who had a marhsall run infront of him carrying a fire extinguisher?
 
I like how the article quotes Charlie Whiting as saying a Canopy could distort vision. Yet he is now suggesting the front roll hoop idea looks good? Make your mind up man!

If the windscreen idea managed to deflect it but shattered surely that is enough? I can't see a wheel nearly hitting a driver in the face yet the driver still being in a position where he and his car are still able to continue the race anyway?
 
arknor said:
isnt the only fatality in f1 from an object hitting someones head that poor bloke who had a marhsall run infront of him carrying a fire extinguisher?
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From a drivers POV yes, however a couple of marshalls were killed by flying wheels in 2003/4. That's a problem more worthy of research IMO.
 
Spunkey said:
From a drivers POV yes, however a couple of marshalls were killed by flying wheels in 2003/4. That's a problem more worthy of research IMO.
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Wheel tethers. They have been part of F1 and many other motor sports for years. They don't always work, but they are far better than in the past.
 
In get that, but then why are the ideas of canopies and scaffolding on the nose being discussed?

There have been few incidents of drivers being struck on the head in recent years, and surely it's a statistical oddity that it happens at all given how little of the driver is exposed from the cockpit.

godinman said:
seems like they're trying to fix a problem that isn't actually there...
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Exactly.
 
arknor said:
they would be better off reinforcing the tethers
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This.

Fix the problem, not the symptom.

Some sort of centrifugal system that stops wheels falling off if the nut comes off, and stronger tethers (although the current ones are very good).
 
arknor said:
what if a tyre bounces off the roll hoop over a fence into a crowd? ;)

they would be better off reinforcing the tethers
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Don't get me wrong - I agree it's a rubbish idea that should have its development time used for something else :)

I'm not sure just reinforcing the tethers will work. The last 2 occasions I think think of with tyres bouncing along wouldn't have been stopped by tethers.
Tyres coming off due to bolts missing will still happen and iirc there was an incident in recent years where the whole suspension assembly came off with the wheel and bounced along - all held together by the tether?


If they went to lower profile tyres would there be a lesser tendency to tyres bouncing along at speed?
 
When I've seen wheels fly off an F1 car, they have either carried on forward into the catch nets, or go off at an angle....and and up in the catch nets.
When is the problem of a wheel rotating forwards, suddenly being able to rotate the other way and hit a following car ever going to arise?

Was it Brazil last year where a wheel came off the rear of a car exiting the pit lane? There was no catch net there to stop it, and it went bouncing over the track.
It's still track safety which need to be improved.


PinkFloyd said:
If they went to lower profile tyres would there be a lesser tendency to tyres bouncing along at speed?
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Yes, but then the tyre temps would drop very quickly. Also would cause issues with suspension travel, wheel size, and all sorts of havoc :p
 
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They need something that makes the tyre partially or fully deflate once it is detached from the car. A deflated tyre is also a tyre that rolls quickly to a stop and doesn't bounce...
 
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