Formula 1 fans were treated to an enthralling clash of living legends in the Brazilian Grand Prix at Sao Paulo, filled with wipe-outs, surprises, and controversies. While George Russell stole many of the headlines for his momentous victory – and Verstappen stole many others for his controversial decision not to help his teammate – one major moment in the race came in just the first lap.
As the drivers tore into turn 8, Daniel Ricciardo caught the back of Magnussen’s Haas in the midst of the mid-pack battle. Although no crash is ever a good one, the two can count themselves lucky to have walked away from the crash, as this is not always the case.
A Short History
While the foundations of the modern F1 that we know today began to blossom back in the 1940s and has since hosted an astounding 72 Championship seasons, the combined development of both the racing machinery and the accessibility for fans has seen the sport’s popularity skyrocket in recent years. ExpressVPN’s coverage of F1 streaming statistics highlights how the popular Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ caused a huge spike in the sport’s audience.
Not only has the sport’s popularity increased, but so too have the overall safety procedures in place. So, while even a single crash is an awful occurrence, the safety measures in place are a result of mistakes of the past – lessons which Formula 1 has had to learn the hard way. Today, we take a look at some historic crashes in the sport.
1955 Monaco Grand Prix
As Ferrari’s two-time world champion Alberto Ascari raced his 80th lap of the event, his vehicle missed a chicane and crashed straight through the barrier into the Mediterranean Sea. As his car sunk to the depths of the sea, Ascari was able to swim to safety with just a broken nose from the incident, fortunately.
1976 German Grand Prix
On a typical rainy day at the notorious Nordschleife circuit at Nürburgring in Germany, Niki Lauda raced into his second lap – after initially voting not to race due to the conditions – before his car whipped to the right, and he encountered the wall head-on, sending his car up in flames.
Luckily, multiple drivers were available to help him out of the car and suppress the injuries sustained. After recovering from his injuries, Lauda returned to the sport to become a two-time champion.
2020 Bahrain Grand Prix
While safety has come leaps and bounds since the sport’s beginning, crashes do still happen in the modern sport – as Ricciardo knows all too well.
On the first lap of this race, Grosjean was sent flying into a fence at 199mph after a collision with Daniil Kvyat, combusting his engine. While the car was in two pieces and on fire, the survival cell stayed intact, and the driver was fortunate to survive the incident.
1967 Monaco Grand Prix
As Lorenzo Bandini held his position in second place in Monaco, he was unfortunate enough to lose control of the vehicle, leading to a fatal collision with the guard rails and straw bales – a rupture of the fuel tank caused a major combustion. The tragedy led the F1 to remove straw bales from all future competitions.
Crashes in the Formula 1 were, in the past, always tragic, and we hope that the sport can continue to learn from the minimal tragedies that do occur to constantly improve the protection of the brave drivers who participate in the sport and provide us with such entertainment.
