F1 Safety Can Never Be Taken For Granted.

HRT

    Who ever said the Abu Dhabi GP is dull? What an edge of the chair race it was, with Kimi Raikkonen nonchalantly winning for Lotus.
    However there was one image that stuck in our mind. That is Nico Rosberg unavoidably vaulting his Mercedes over the abruptly stricken HRT of Narain Karthikeyan. Fortunately neither driver was hurt and replays show what an excellent job the high cockpit side bodywork did in protecting Karthikeyan. Not that long ago it was a similar scenario at Spa with Lotus' Romain Grosjean and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. A simple yet effective increase to driver protection introduced only a few years ago. Helmet design and construction standards have also increased dramatically since Ferrari's Felipe Massa's near career ending accident at Hungary in 2009. But the work is never done is it? Currently the FIA in conjunction with the F1 Technical Working Group are testing forward roll hoops, canopies and windshields to protect the driver from a frontal impact taking into account the resulting deflected flying debris. Improving driver, marshal and spectator safety is a task with constantly moving goalposts. Let us know what you think. Email us at: greenflag@formulafrontrow.com or simply leave a comment.
    This weekend's penultimate 2012 F1 GP at the newly constructed Circuit Of The Americas in Austin, Texas should be epic. An undulating, purpose built F1 circuit. Bring it on.
    Final thought. At the start of the year formulafrontrow.com was talking about how exciting it is to have an unprecedented six world champions on the 2012 F1 grid. Well, five have now won at least one race, the other is retiring. Ouch! 

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