Head injuries, what more can be done?

[patmahe]

I'm aware that the sport can never be 100% safe, but in recent years there have been some terrible head injuries in F1 and other branches of motorsport, Maria de Villota, Felipe Massa, Jules Bianchi and now Justin Wilson.

It seems to me that in these cases something in front of the driver would have made a difference, be that a canopy or a partial aero surround (obviously heavily strengthened), as on the Caparo T1 for example. Which could take the brunt of the impact. Obviously there is the issue with these if a car becomes inverted.



If these solutions are not the answer then what is, can helmet technology be improved to the extent that it would have prevented even one of these tragedies.

For the record I am an F1 purist at heart, I love that the driver sits in the airflow, but its not my head in the danger area, maybe the time has come to put the human first before we read about another tragedy?

Would be interested to hear the thoughts of other F1 fans.

[patmahe]

ash73 said:

Interesting Merc concept

The issue with something like this, apart from visibility restrictions is that it won't stop something small like a bolt or a spring though it might have saved Jules Bianchi, Justin Wilson or maybe Marie De Villota. I guess we'll never know, but I don't think the 'we shouldn't do anything, they know the risks, its as safe as it can be already' argument is acceptable any more. Something must be done.