Racing lines: How F1's improved safety saved Grosjean's life

Likewise, the flames triggered recollections of Roger Williamson’s burning March at Zandvoort, also in 1973, back when fire was the racing driver’s greatest enemy. Unlike at Sakhir, the marshals were grossly illequipped to tackle the blaze, leaving David Purley, who pulled over and jumped from his car, to single-handedly strive to free his colleague from the inverted wreck.

Purley’s disgusted desolation when he realised that his heroic efforts were in vain shocked the world back then – but not enough to fully awaken motor racing from its laissez-faire slumber. Where once there was a shrugging acceptance that motor racing was a mortally perilous activity undertaken at one’s own risk, today there’s a welcome intolerance to such negligence. Investigations into every aspect of Grosjean’s crash will be both swift and thorough, lessons will be learned and positive action will be taken. It’s impossible to legislate accidents out of existence, of course, and racing will always remain dangerous. But there’s a reason why life-changing injury and death have become the exception rather than the rule.

What could change?

The car itself withstood the impact remarkably well. Yes, the rear end was torn off, the triple Zylon tethers failed to restrain the front wheels and clearly any proven fuel cell rupture (super-rare these days) would be of serious concern. But given the extreme violence of the impact, the most important bit – the safety cell that cocoons the driver – did exactly what it was supposed to. The halo didn’t even impede Grosjean’s escape, even if it was pure dumb luck that the chassis embedded in a manner that allowed him a clear route to freedom. But perhaps the biggest concern was the barrier itself.

Multi-layered steel became the go-to solution for race tracks half a century ago, when such barriers replaced the Nürburgring’s ditches and trees as the boundary between circuit and forest. But even then they were controversial and are long outdated. It’s only a surprise they remain in use, if only on the bits of track that racing drivers don’t usually hit. Grosjean’s crash, which occurred at a point of hard acceleration exiting a corner, highlights that crashes can and will happen anywhere and at any time. Perhaps this will finally mark the beginning of the end for the old unforgiving rings of steel.