That safety is non-negotiable is an accepted – make that crucial – element of modern motorsport. Yet, it is sobering to realise that just 50 years ago (now Sir) Jackie Stewart, who retired in 1973, tallied the number of drivers the sport had lost in the dozen years since starting his career. The triple Formula 1 World Champion and wife, Helen, stopped when they hit 50.
Indeed, it is little wonder that Stewart, who spent much of his 1969-’73 heyday campaigning for improved safety standards, on the basis that drivers should not pay the ultimate price for a simple error, refers to that era not as the ‘good old days’, as do many veteran fans, but as ‘bad old days’.
Worse, he was widely ridiculed at the time for his efforts by those, whose number included the well-known journalist, Denis Jenkinson, who believed it was better to die ‘nobly’ in burning cars than don flameproof kit, or better to hit an exposed tree or wall than end your race in a gravel trap!
An example of how the science of safety has developed over the past 50 years was conveyed graphically into millions of homes during the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix after Romain Grosjean’s Haas F1 car crashed headlong into the barriers, bursting into flames in the process. That the French Swiss driver faced the press just five days later with only a burnt hand bears testimony to the incredible progress the sport has made since Stewart’s days.
The sport’s governing body, the FIA, is charged with the responsibly for motorsport safety – a task the federation takes extremely seriously, as evidenced by annual budgets of millions spent by a specialist department dedicated to researching and validating safety equipment.
