Sitting in the crowd as you watch cars zoom past with the loud engines that are revving, until all of sudden a car skids and crashes into the barriers, completely destroyed. Watching it all unfold in front of your eyes, catching fire, you hope that the driver has escaped. It becomes clear that Formula 1 racing is dangerous to drivers, even though it may not be a physical contact type of sport. Within this sport there are more severe causes of danger than other sports. 

Formula 1 is one of the highest international single-seater racing sponsored by FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile). Races known as Grand Prix take place internationally on closed public roads. 

These cars top speeds are between 200-300 miles per hour while making extremely tight turns and driving on tracks with slight elevation, not to mention the fact that there are 19 other cars in the race trying to move up in place. 

According to Formula 1, at the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on Nov. 28, 2020, Romain Grosjean raced for team Haas and crashed into a barrier, splitting the car in half and causing a fire to start on the course.

Lewis Hamilton, who is a driver for team Mercedes, revisited the idea of the dangers that come from racing after the Grosjean’s crash during an interview with ESPN. 

“It was such a shocking image to see,” Hamilton said in the interview. “The thing is, when we arrive, when I get in the car, I know I’m taking risk and I respect the dangers that are in this sport.”

In the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on Nov. 28 2020, Lance Stroll for Racing Point hit tires with Daniil Kvyat for AlphaTauri, causing Stroll’s car to flip.

Another incident was during the Sakhir Grand Prix on Dec. 6, 2020, when Sergio Perez for the Racing Point team and Charles Leclerc for team Ferrari collided. In the process of trying to avoid the crash, Max Verstappen for team Aston Martin Redbull Racing ended up crashing into the wall. 

Throughout the 70 years of Formula 1, multiple changes to safety protocol to ensure the best for the drivers have been put in place.

According to Autosport, the ideas of having a fire suit, gloves and boots all came at different times and eventually became mandatory for drivers. The cars are built with a fire suppression system that can be activated by the driver or race marshals, spreading fire retardant foam around the chassis and engine. 

There are also actual safety cars that follow behind. If any crash or anything of the sort happens, those cars are first on the scene and help as much as they can. 

Even though there is a safety protocol, there is still the harm factor. These drivers can seriously injure themselves and others around them. This protocol is put in place to ensure the injuries to a lesser severity not to keep them safe as a whole. 

The idea of death is something that might not be assumed when it comes to Formula 1 racing, but actually deaths are not uncommon within the sport. F1 started in 1950 and there have been over 53 deaths since then, the most recent one being in 2014 by driver Jules Bianchi in the Australian Grand Prix. 

These drivers are not only racing at insane speeds, but need to control their cars around corners. There are times when drivers get too close to the other competitors, causing the tires to hit against each other and a car to flip over, which can cause severe damage to the car and the driver inside. 

While F1 is widely enjoyed, the enjoyment is at the cost of the high risks, something that these drivers have a deep understanding of.