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Comment by gacek | Hacker News Reader

I really like the conclusion, about not waiting for a death to realize what can happen.

The thing is that it is not the open cockpit that can kill, it is the speed. And the speed is why this sport has so many fans.

Also remember that apart from being hit in his head Massa also hit a wall of tires at 200+ kph. I know they were there to absorb the shock, still, try doing that in a regular car...

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"...Massa also hit a wall of tires at 200+ kph. I know they were there to absorb the shock, still, try doing that in a regular car..."

Is a Formula 1 car any better in an impact than a modern car with, say, 5 Euro NCAP stars[1]? I had a quick Google and it seems that the most important safety feature in this situation is the head and neck support system:

"The leading causes of death in auto racing accidents are skull and neck fractures resulting from rapid deceleration during accidents. The Head and Neck Support system (HANS) was designed to reduce these whiplash effects. The system consists of a collar that is attached to the safety belt and strapped to the helmet to hold the helmet in place during an accident. HANS usage became mandatory in Formula One racing in 2003." [2]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_NCAP

[2] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_three_main_safety_fea...

You should look up the monocoque F1-cars use. They basically are a carbon case just around the driver which is designed to hodl of ridiculous forces from just about any direction. One can go as far as saying: there is pretty much no chance in hell that a F1-driver is somewhat crushed inside this monocoque. So, the F1-cars are damn secure, and I do mean damn secure and while it is true that there are some fairly ugly accidents out there in the F1-world, one has to keep in mind: that is a car travelling at 200+kph and hits a wall. In about any other car, the driver would be dead. So, keep in mind: security in F1 is something else (Survive!) as security in regular street cars (get out of there without injuries).

cp eg here: http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/understanding_the_sport/52...

Yes, F1 cars are designed to survive (or rather the driver to survive) even 300kph accidents. They are safer than 5* EURONCAP in this sense. Things to note are:

a) F1 drivers are very fit as opposed to regular people (so they can endure damage more easily)

b) you wouldn't want to drive an F1 on the street because of other safety issues

There are no cockpit covers it allows the driver to get out (or removed by marshalls) quickly in case of fire (which was the biggest in old days).

yeah these days, risk of fire is quite less but still its a delicate balance which one has is more risky (fire or debris hitting drivers)

One detail: according to Martin Brundle, the BBC commentator, it was more like 60mph (100kph). When Massa was knocked unconscious by the spring, his feet came to rest on the accelerator and brake - both were down when he went into the wall.

It was a terrifying accident.

speed does not kill, it's acceleration (o rather deceleration ) that does :)

acceleration does not kill either, it's variance inside the body that does (a free fall in a strong but relatively uniform gravitational field does no harm e.g., a cosmonaut on the international space station).

Yes, uniform acceleration under gravity is equivalent to remaining still!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universality_of_free_fall#The_E...

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