[ad_1]
He even joked from the room of the Manama military hospital where he spent last night in observation, thanking the Halo, the halo that protected his head from the tremendous impact against the railing.
Those close to him say he wants to try to race this weekend, again in Bahrain for the penultimate GP of the season on a slightly modified track. Romain Grosjean, the survivor, came out with burns on his hands.
The images of the flames evoked tragic memories of an F1 that seemed forgotten. The fatal accidents of Piers Courage, Roger Williamson, Lauda’s life-changing gamble. Twenty-eight seconds have passed from the moment of the accident until the Frenchman came out of hell on his legs. A bit battered, but alive, very agitated as the first to arrive at the scene, the FIA track emergency medical coordinator, told us, Ian Roberts, and the driver of the medical car Alan der Merwe.
It was a miracle, of human preparation, technology and even fate because the dynamics of the accident were a nightmare. First lap, out of turn 4, Grosjean He travels at 221 km / h when he makes a mistake and plays with Daniil Kvat losing control. The nightmare scenario is triggered for a driver: the car hits the protective barrier almost perpendicular, to make matters worse the angle of the handrail that had to be placed in another way. The answers that the investigation of the Federation will give, inevitable.
The security cell
The impact force is measured in 53 G, the Haas it is divided into two: the rear part that contains the gearbox and the engine triggers, leaving the driver inside the security cell. Carbon shell reinforced with layers of Kevlar (a material used in bulletproof vests). The structure maintained and confirmed the rigidity of the crash test adopted in Formula 1.
Hello
But what saved Grosjean above all was the Halo, the circular bar around the head, without the collision with the barrier it would have been fatal. Francois Cevert lost his life in a similar accident at Watkins Glen in 1973.
The Halo was introduced in 2018 at the behest of the FIA, at the urging of Jean Todt and Charlie Whiting, many drivers opposed, including Grosjean himself who, like others, scoffed at calling it the flip-flop. He has already saved many lives and now no one dreams of questioning him. The Halo weighs about 9 kg, is made of titanium and is attached to the car frame with three attachment points. It was developed after the terrible accident of the 2014 Japanese GP, when Jules Bianchi collided with a tractor at high speed: due to the consequences of the terrible impact, the French driver from Marussia died months later. The Halo was designed to withstand huge loads, the British say it can withstand the weight of a London double-decker bus.
The Hans necklace
Luck of Romain Grosjean it was always being aware and being able to free yourself from your seat belts in the middle of flames, caused by lost gasoline or exploding batteries. also thanks to the Hans collar, mandatory in F1 since 2003: it is fixed to the helmet and allows to reduce the forces caused by a violent deceleration by up to 80%.
The Grosjean incident
Extraction tests
But there is another key factor: training on emergency procedures. Each driver must show that they know how to get out of the car in 5 ”, with the introduction of the Halo the jump is more complicated. For this reason, the FIA in recent years has intensified the extraction tests: in addition to being carried out by the teams in their factories, they are repeated every Thursday on the track before the race weekend before the Federation doctors and those of the teams.
The suits with resistance to 850 C
His visor was completely obscured by smoke, Dr. Ian Roberts said after rescuing Grosjean. Fire seemed like a forgotten element in F1, thankfully not by those involved in safety. In this field too, enormous progress has been made: the suits worn by the pilots have extremely rigid parameters and almost all are produced in Italy (Sparco, Alpinestars). They must be able to withstand at least twelve seconds at very high temperatures, up to 850 C. In addition, there is another layer of the same material under the suit for greater body protection.
Biometric gloves
Then there are the biometric gloves, presented in 2019: they have a sensor at the height of the middle finger that transmits the pilot’s parameters (heart rate, temperature, oxygenation), so that rescuers arrive at the site already informed of the conditions. Gloves can be damaged, but the sensor is designed to keep transmitting data even in the event of an accident.
The preparation of FIA rescuers
During the exercises we try to anticipate all situations: multiple accidents, fires, collisions. There is a lot of preparation but then it is clear that when it happens it never happens exactly as you thought it would be: in the case of Romain, the scene was very complex: a part of the machine beyond the barriers, first we tried to understand what was happening. Then to intervene, explained Alan der Merwe, a former GT driver behind the wheel of the medical car in F1 since 2009. But there is also human instinct – adds Dr. Ian Roberts– you see a person on fire and try to go through the flames to save him. Do what you can: We saw the opportunity to get in, we jumped in and helped him jump.
November 30, 2020 (change November 30, 2020 | 11:00)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
[ad_2]
