Formula 1

Spa Francorchamps

Have you seen Formula 1 race on TV? Have you been to Formula 1 event?
Formula 1 is fascinating but also risky mainly for the drivers. Lets have a closer look together at this sport and it's safety.

Formula 1 is the highest class of single-seater auto racing.  There is no cover in the car over the driver. It is called open-wheel car.

This sport follows rules defined by FIA "Federation Internationale de l'Automobile". FIA was established in 1904.  It has headquarter in France.  62 years have passed since the inaugural season that was in 1950.

Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull Racing is the champion. He won last two seasons. Fernando Alonso from Ferrari won last weekend race in Valencia and he is current leader of this season.


We have 12 teams, 24 cars and 24 primary drivers trying to win the race. There are 20 races planned this year, from Australia, through Asia and Europe to North America. Three city races: Monaco, Montreal and Valencia and one night race in Singapore.

For racing we need cars. They are called bolides.

The most important parts of the bolide  are: engine, gear box, tyres and brakes.

Engine gives output power equal to 750 bhp (brake horsepower). Regular cars have about 100 bhp. We have four suppliers of the engine this year: Cosworth, Ferrari, Mercedes and Renault.

The Formula 1 car has gear box with 6 to 7 gears. Number of gears is not fixed and depends on: the car, the circuit and driver preferences. Therefore are no two identical cars in the same team.

Tyres for this season come from  Pirelli. There are separate types for dry conditions and wet weather. Dry tyres are: super soft, soft, medium and hard. Wet tyres split to intermediate and wet. Tyres loose performance during the race. One of the best drivers Fernando Alonso lost 4 positions during last 15 minutes of Canadian Grand Prix due to degraded tyres.

Brakes work the whole race under high pressure and they reach 1000 Celsius degrees. The Formula 1 car can brake from 200 km/h  to a complete stop in about 2 seconds.

The driver is challenged by gravitational force. G force is equal to 2 G in case of accelerating, 4 G when cornering and 5 G when braking.

The car reaches speeds of 370 km/h on the fastest circuit in Monza in Italy.

These extreme speeds are sources of high risks for the drivers.

In the beginning of the sport there were many fatal accidents.

Two last cases were during San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. During qualifications Austrian driver  Roland Ratzenberger had accident and died. Next day Ayrton Senna had similar accident and also died.

Formula 1 improved safety and provided Head and Neck Support device, called HANS.

It has improved safety. Do you remember Robert Kubica crash during 2007 in Montreal?  He hit the wall with 300 km/h but he was OK after few days.

Two years later Felipe Massa had accident in Hungaroring in July 2009 during qualifying. He survived but he suffered skull fracture and was out of the season till the end of the year.

These examples show that the fight for the safety is not over.

Formula 1 brakes limits in motor industry. People need cars so we need Formula 1.