Why the latest motorsport fatality is so hard to comprehend · RaceFans – RaceFans
The FIA has begun its investigation into Saturday’s horrific Formula 2 crash which claimed the life of Anthoine Hubert and left another driver, Juan Manuel Correa, in intensive care with serious injuries .
Questions of how the crash unfolded, whether it could have been avoided, and how the safety systems and procedures at the circuit performed, will be answered in the particular fullness of time. We must postpone our urge to understand what happened until all the facts are in.
That does not make it any easier to comprehend how this grave tragedy occured. Particularly as it happened not in the top flight of Formula 1, nor even in the particular still more perilous world of IndyCar’s superspeedways, but a junior championship for those aspiring to reach the sport’s pinnacle. That undoubtedly amplified its emotional impact, particularly for those closest to the tragedy.
Hubert drove for Arden, the team run by Garry Horner, father associated with the Red Bull group principal. Christian Horner was also connected to the accident through Pierre Gasly , who had been a friend of Hubert’s since childhood .
“Obviously what happened was a shock for the whole paddock, for both of our drivers who raced against Anthoine at different points, yet particularly with regard to Pierre, ” said Horner. “They’d grown up together they ran for many years with each other, their families know each other extremely well. I think it hit him very hard.
“All I could do was try and offer some kind of support, say that Anthoine was doing exactly what he wanted to do and if this individual had the opportunity to be racing the Method 1 car you’re in tomorrow he would have grabbed that opportunity with each hands.
“It brings home to everybody that risks exist not just in Formulation 1 but across all the categories of motorsport plus single-seater race. It was a horrible day for motorsport in general, particularly regarding his family, for his loved ones, intended for his friends and for the Arden team I’m obviously closely associated to. It was a tough day for everybody. ”
On Saturday evening Lewis Hamilton said he felt not everyone had fully appreciated the risks of motorsport. He wrote on social media that fans and “some of the particular people actually working in the sport” did not respect that “drivers put their life on the line when they hit the particular track” .
Forgive him a broad generalisation in a social media post at the stressful time. Many followers undoubtedly perform appreciate the sport’s dangers. But he has a point that not everyone will.
His group principal Toto Wolff, formerly a GT racer, offered one view why. “I think it’s very difficult to relate to what’s happening in a car if you have never driven a race car at these speeds, ” he or she said.
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“Whether it is in the junior formula, almost all the way to Formula 1, within GT cars or prototypes, it is still a gladiators’ sport. It is nevertheless about courage, ability, risk-taking. But through a camera lens you will certainly never realise what it feels like. ”
Modern onboard cameras, which usually produce much smoother, a lot more refined images than the raw, brutal footage from a few decades ago, certainly can make driving an F1 car look like cruising along a motorway. It has been striking that after the race two F1 drivers shared the same video on social media of a static camera angle which gave a much better impression of the true speed of the cars than those we are used in order to.
Yet modern enthusiasts probably spend even more period connecting along with the sport through the official Method 1 game. And here, too, the true dangers from the sport are difficult to appreciate. Whereas once F1 games showed vehicles flipping over and smashing in to pieces, the potential for mayhem will be sanitised to an unrealistic degree in recent titles.
This is usually not to say that these things are wrong or that they must change, yet an attempt to explain the distance between the particular fans plus the sports activity. The majority of F1’s millions associated with fans have likely never had an opportunity to watch a competition at the circuit, let alone stand at the top of Raidillon, scene of Saturday’s crash, where the cars pop directly into view in shocking velocity and disappear almost before you’ve experienced time in order to turn your head.
Constant improvements in safety standards mean major crashes happen relatively infrequently. This is a good thing. But it also means supporters become less familiar with the potential consequences, and explains why the particular outcome associated with Saturday’s crash came as a shock to many and affected us so deeply.
“We were fortunate enough for numerous years to not have these kinds of accidents and maybe forgotten about how dangerous the sport is, ” stated Wolff on Sunday. “And I think this is what Lewis wanted to express.
“I may totally relate to it. If you drive towards Eau Rouge [at] 260, 270 kilometres [per hour], which looks like a 90-degree corner, and you take this flat, it is beyond understanding that these guys do what they do. And it can end fatally. ”
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
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