F1: Safest sport on the planet?

[Legend]

I have noticed a lots of guys calling Schumacher a chicken quoting Schumacher's "ovals are dangerous" as their finest reason!
Is formula 1 really so safe?
Why are we lured to believe so, in a sport where technology is enabling the cars to exceed former limits?
How can a sport be safe when you are reaching speeds more than 200 mph?
When you take a look at those pictures, does it require a lots of fantasy to imagine the worse could really happen in those sorts of situations?
Is there courage needed, when you have been through those kind of situations, to come back racing?


http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQBpZ.../picture05.jpg
Michael Schumacher at Silverstone 1999

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQCyO.../picture11.jpg
Luciano Burti crashes Michael Schumacher
German Grand Prix 2001 at Hockenheim

[DNQ]

Flame bait.

[Legend]

This is not flame bait

I just want to point out that F1 is still dangerous, regardless of safety messieurs which are taken in consideration. I am sure Schumacher is risking his life at each grand prix, and he is not the only one, adding all other drivers to this list. We have lost Senna in F1 and it seems so long ago. We have had a relative safe period where fortunately not a driver has been killed, but the chances are ever present on the circuits of Formula 1. I hope people will realize that F1 is not as safe as we believe it is due to the nature of the sport.
How can this be interpreted as “flame bait”? Please tell me!

[Valve Bounce]

.....if SchM stopped swerving violently at starts, refrained from ramming other cars in his mad urge to win, it might be safer.

Valve[img]http://www.**************************/smilies/bouncy.gif[/img]

[Gt_R]

I don't know/care if this is intended as a flame bait or not... but i'd just thought i'd chip in a thing or two before the thread starts to be filled with rubbish like "Michael's a chicken" sh*t.

The fact is that, just because F1 doesn't have any drivers dying in accidents since 1994 doesn't mean we can put down our guard that racing, F1 included, is a dangerous sports. There are many people that we must thank, FIA included, for their continual efforts, which is often unrecognised if no accidents happen, to improve safety.

As for the people calling Schumacher a chicken...i'd guess they experienced what it takes to be one? LOL Of course, he's such a whimp JUST because he said something is dangerous. Frogetting that the F1, which is what many mistaken as "too safe", had seen him be involved in some pretty huge accidents. Silverstone 99, Hockenheim 01, and all those pre-testing crashes he had. He had even broken his legs in one of them. Of course, not forgetting that he had witnessed, like us, some pretty horrific accidents such as Burti's crash at Spa last year, Monza 2000, just to mention a few.

Yet, this CHICKEN, despite all, continued to be fully committed to his job, to his team, to his fans. He din't come off from these incidents less a man. He came back stronger.

PS Flame bait? I don't think so, because i am not provoking others by teasing their "driver-of-choice". And so far, i don't see anything wrong with Legend's post. If it's taken correctly by Schumacher-critics, this can be a rather nice talk about safety. The ball is in their hands.

[Gt_R]

VB, don't know if you'd read this or not...

but perhaps we can tell the same to JPM for not swerving at starts? And the last time we witness a ramming in mad urge to win... it was way back in 97.

[Legend]

Originally posted by Gt_R
PS Flame bait? I don't think so, because i am not provoking others by teasing their "driver-of-choice". And so far, i don't see anything wrong with Legend's post. If it's taken correctly by Schumacher-critics, this can be a rather nice talk about safety. The ball is in their hands.

Oopps The ball is in their hands? Man, what have I done, run for your lives!!!

I agree with Legend for starting this thread. I think people call Schumacher names because of this one quote is because it's just another aspect to criticise and demean him.

[freud]

Legend..

- Motor racing (of any form) is NOT safe.
- Formula one can NEVER be safe.
- Accidents have happened and 'will' always happen.
- Drivers have had worse accidents than TGF and have come back and raced.
- A racer loves 'racing'. Alex Zanardi still wants to race!!!

If you love the sport, bear with the danger. Or stop following it.

[f1manoz]

Why post only pictures of TGF?

How about posting a picture of Mika Hakkinen near death experience at Adelaide in 1995 if you want to talk about dangers of motor racing?

Or Burti's colossal accident at Spa last year?

Frankly the **** spewed by some members of this forum is out of hand.

Or Burti's horific crash at the start of the German GP for example

[Gt_R]

"Why post only pictures of TGF?"

Because some posters here only call Michael a chicken? Forgetting that he is involved in some rather huge crashes? Of course, we didn't forget other huge shunts like that of Mika Hakkinen's in 95. Truly horrific. (BTW, in the 2nd pic, its the blue car that comes out the worse than Michael)

Quote freud:"If you love the sport, bear with the danger. Or stop following it."

Yepp, Michael knows the dangers, he loved F1, he stayed, he raced, he conquered. And Legend know the dangers, he loved the sports...he chose to follow it. But thankfully, many people do not choose to follow your "take it or leave it" attitude. That's why we see people who bother to make improvements and reduce dangers in the sports we love.

And you sure we can stop following it if we can't bear the dangers? Won't then be name callings of "chicken"?

[R]

OK, guys, take it easy.

Calling TGF a "chicken" is of course ludicrous. He's had several other big crashes in addition to those mentioned above. Brazil 95 (practice), Imola 95, Spa 98 and Australia 01 (practice) to name a few off the top of my head. Of course, other drivers have also had huge moments. We need look no further than the Heidfeld/Sato crash in Austria this year - had Montoya been a few centimeters further down the road, he would have been involved in that incident too.

Formula One can never be 100% safe, so the target must be to make it as safe as possible.

[DNQ]

Originally posted by f1manoz
Why post only pictures of TGF?

How about posting a picture of Mika Hakkinen near death experience at Adelaide in 1995 if you want to talk about dangers of motor racing?

Or Burti's colossal accident at Spa last year?

Frankly the **** spewed by some members of this forum is out of hand.

Agreed entirely, especially the last sentence.

Before I posted my simple 'flame bait' post, I had another few lines of ranting...but I refrained. I guess I will just ignore these threads in the future.

[Speedworx]

F1 isn't as dangerous as it used to be. Should F1 ever have actual racing ever again, then it might be. Right now the just follow each other, which isn't dangerous.

You obviously didn't watch Hockenheim and Belgium last year.

[f1manoz]

Yes, I'll have to concur with Aussiefan. F1 is still very dangerous, but safety has improved so much that we are not discussing death anymore as part of the game. But some drivers are still lucky to be walking at least, particularly Burti.

[Legend]

I have lots of other crash pictures if you want to see them too. But look at the second picture where Burti's life is mainly in jepordy! The question was " can you imagine the worse could really happen in those sorts of situations?" and not "Can you imagine the worse could really happen to the CHICKEN in those sorts of situations?"

Here are some other crash picture to ease your hearts!

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQAAA.../picture01.jpg http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQAAA.../picture03.jpg http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQAAA.../picture10.jpg http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0LQAAA.../picture12.jpg


But the question is still this, with all those potantial "Death traps" does it need guts to drive in Formula 1 or is this as safe as a golf tournament?


I would also like to thank all the guys who have supported this thread ( You know who you are) to make it an even debate! Thanks again!

[OVERSTEER]

Well it can be called a reasonably safe sport from the point of view of the drivers walking away unscathed for the most horrific looking accidents, such as Brundle's in Australia 1996, Burti's at Hockenheim 2001 and Villeneuve's at Australia 2001, it's just that there are a few unfortunate cases such as Zanardi's at the CART race in Germany last year where he lost both of his lower legs, but I would say that it's a reasonably safe sport, not 100% safe but safe enough.

By the way, how are people posting more than one pic on a single posting?, and one's that are so big?, because they are clearly more than 400 pixals by 400 pixals.

[Legend]

Originally posted by OVERSTEER
I would say that it's a reasonably safe sport, not 100% safe but safe enough.

It is not safe enough but it is safer than it has been, I believe still the sport is not for the fainthearted! So the Chicken is a Rooster!

By the way, how are people posting more than one pic on a single posting?, and one's that are so big?, because they are clearly more than 400 pixals by 400 pixals.

Actually the pictures are attached to another site so there would be no damage done to the server of this site!

[TimD]

FROM THE FAQ:

You can add a photo or a picture to your post in two ways but, whichever method you choose, you must ensure that the dimensions of the image do not exceed 400 pixels x 400 pixels. We have set this limit to ensure that the loading time of the forum is kept to a minimum, whilst ensuring that you can continue to post images which add to the value of your post. We also ask that you only post an image if it does add to the value of your post, and that you do so in moderation

So it's not a question of "damage done to the server". It's a question of consideration for the other forum users. We have been over this issue of picture size time and time again on this forum, and every time, we face the insistence of individuals who want to post big pictures that they are doing no harm, and every time, the moderators get complaints that the pictures are taking too long to load up.

As a rule of thumb, if the images force the borders of the forum display to distort, then they're too big.

As they already exist on the net, I would suggest linking to them, rather than posting them. Those who are interested will go and look.

[OVERSTEER]

Anyway, back onto the subject, you can't make the sport much safer unless all circuits consist entirely of chicanes, and that would be very boring.

[Legend]

TimD thanks for your graceful way of correcting me, which is obviously a sharp contrast to other official of the forum being less polite and more puzzling than usual. I respect your suggestion and will follow it to the point. You should give some other guys a course in how to be a good official in those sorts of forums, polite and exact so there is no room left for misunderstandings! Thanks Tim!!!

[Startline1]

YES all motorsport is dangerous !!

Ok so we all can agree that F1 is safer today due to all the advances in car design, but as in any area there is a price to pay and in this case it is we have "follow the leader" races on mostly sanitised tracks.

[racing_guru]

The fact is most dangerous accidents happen during the start/first lap, or due to a mechanical failure.

The efforts of the FIA to increase track safety may have ruined the soul of many tracks, however, I'll accept that in lieu of seeing any further deaths.

The FIA should be applauded for their work in this area and many drivers have their lives intact because of this. Just think where the wall used to be at Eau Rouge and then think of Villeneuve, Salo and Zonta's accidents there in the last 5 years. Sanitized tracks? Yes. Three saved lives? More then likely . . .