Is it time for closed cockpits in F1?

Following Justin Wilson’s fatal IndyCar crash, we ask the experts if it’s time for F1 to act.

Written by James Roberts

5 min readPublished on 07.09.2015 · 11:10 UTC

After the tragic death of British IndyCar racer Justin Wilson last month, the issue of cockpit protection for single-seater racing machines is once again the main topic of discussion among the mourning motorsports community.

Wilson was struck on the head by the nosecone of Sage Karam’s Chip Ganassi Racing car in the closing stages of the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. After an incident like that, the question of whether it’s responsible to continue racing open cockpit cars when such head injuries are a possibility was bound to be raised.

Adrian Newey's X2014 Gran Turismo concept
© Polyphony Digital Inc. / Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

So is it time for Formula Oneand other single-seater series to take heed from the fatal accidents that have befallen Henry Surtees, Jules Bianchi and Justin Wilson – not to mention the near miss of Felipe Massa – in the recent past? Or is this simply par for the course in a sport where danger and the thrill of open-top, open-wheel racing is key to the attraction? We asked those in the know for their thoughts…

James Allen, BBC 5Live F1 commentator

Frontal protection pillars seem inevitable

Cockpit protection is the final frontier of open-wheel racing; how do you protect the driver from flying wheels or debris? It’s something the FIA, the teams and the drivers have wrestled with for a long time. We had Felipe Massa being hit by a spring, Henry Surtees being hit by a wheel and now Justin Wilson being hit by a piece of bodywork. The two fatalities of Surtees and Wilson might have been avoided with protection, but it’s questionable whether the spring might have got through. And this is the difficulty: what items are you protecting against?

The notion of a canopy like a fighter jet has a growing number supporters in the F1 world, and either that solution or some sort of design involving frontal protection pillars seems inevitable at some point. But it’s such a sensitive area in terms of driver vision, as well as the aesthetics of the cars, that it has to be right.

Follow James on Twitter @JamesAllenonF1

Giorgio Piola's 'Halo' concept for Mercedes
© Giorgio Piola

David Addison, commentator

A closed cockpit wouldn’t eliminate the chance of other injuries

The traditionalist in me thinks single-seaters have to have an open cockpit – always have done, always will do. If you look at how many single-seater and open-top sportscar races there are, from Caterhams to the European Le Mans Series, the number of fatal accidents is relatively minute in relation to the number of races that there have been, so you need to keep a sense of perspective.

Is a closed cockpit the answer? It would potentially reduce the chance of head injuries, but it certainly wouldn’t eliminate the chance of other injuries. If people think this would mean we’d never have injures and fatalities in racing then they are deluded. In so many motorsport incidents, another inch to the left or right can make all the difference – and sometimes there’s no way to allow for that.

Follow David on Twitter @Addison1972

Andries van Overbeeke's vision of a future McLaren
© Andries van Overbeeke

Stephen Bayley, design guru

Canopies will contribute to a sport that is becoming sanitised

Motor racing is dangerous. And while no-one wants to encourage carnage, danger really is rather the point. If it wasn't dangerous, anybody could do it. It needs to be lethal, noisy, irrational, expensive and irresponsible. Ernest Hemingway said the only real sports are the ones that can kill you – the others are just pastimes. Motor racing, bullfighting and mountaineering have one thing in common, and that's nobility. But the nobility, romance and glamour of F1 have been in decline for years.

Tazio Nuvolari once told Giuseppe Farina that you have to make a car dance – look at photographs of Farina and you can see his whole upper body making its own moves. Today, you are lucky if you see Lewis Hamilton dip his head ever so slightly. Canopies will contribute to a sport that is becoming sanitised, tranquilised, bureaucratised and pointless.

www.stephenbayley.com

The driver's head is very exposed in an F1 car...
© GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool

...although protection is better than it was
© GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool

Matt Parry, GP3 driver for Koiranen GP

Motorsport is dangerous – it always has been and it always will be

As a driver, you don’t think about the danger element, and for me being in an open-wheeled, open-top car – I love that part of it. With the recent events involving Justin Wilson and Felipe Massa a few years ago, I understand why there needs to be a discussion, but what do you do? I’ve seen some of the possible ideas for cockpit protection on the web recently, but they all seem pretty far-fetched – one idea seemed to completely block the view of the driver!

Motorsport is dangerous – it always has been and it always will be. It sounds silly, but with the development of driverless cars on the road, how long before you don’t have anyone driving the car at all? I’m open to all ideas, and it’s heavy on the minds of a lot of people at the moment. But it’s important that the right route is taken, so we'll just have to see what the FIA come up with.

Follow Matt on Twitter @MattParryRacing