ORIGINAL: Hotschi
I sometimes wonder how many of those who died on the track would still be alive if they could have been in a safer car...
warspite1
I think the answer is probably a good many of them. The cars are so strong nowadays whereas in the past they were made with things like steel, magnesium and aluminium, they now use carbon-fibre and Kevlar etc. The cars have to undergo crash tests both front and side.
In addition, there are safety features such as the HANS device to protect the neck and spine, the cockpits sides were made higher etc etc.
However, do not forget that it was not the deficiency in the cars that always caused fatalities. The track, the run-off areas and the infrastructure around F1 was also to blameas well as freak bad luck; Francois Cevert was killed because of a poorly placed crash barrier, Tom Pryce was killed because of a track marshal's over exuberence, Roger Williamson and Elio de Angelis died because there was insufficient thought given to fire-fighting and the need for fire-proof clothing and proper equipment to be readily available.
So would they all have survived their accidents in modern cars? No I don't think so, but the death toll would have been a whole lot lower.
