Q: I just watched F1 qualifying from Singapore. After seeing the hefty Carlos Sainz crash I was tempted to put my stopwatch on how quickly the safety and medical teams would be there, especially in comparison to the IndyCar version.
I could have spared that effort, since no one showed up at all, and Carlos got to take a long and lonely hike all on his own back to the pits and his seat in the garage. No medical checkup at all, just a few questions from what seemed to be an official.
How can the “greatest racing series in the world” come over as so amateurish — even arrogant? Obviously there is nothing to learn from IndyCar, is there?
To use the excuse that Singapore is a street course doesn’t fly. IndyCar has those covered as well.
Wiscowerner
CM: We get quite a few comments about F1’s medical team reactions and at times I’ve agreed, but at others I’ve strongly defended them. This will be the latter.
The safety systems of the cars themselves are remarkable, to such an extent that this wasn’t a particularly heavy crash for Sainz. There are tiny accelerometers that sit in a driver’s ear canal that can measure the forces the driver is subject to, and if it triggers above 15G then the medical car is automatically deployed.
The fact he went backwards across run-off into Tecpro kept it below that limit, but that doesn’t mean he’s just being ignored. There’s a high-speed camera facing the driver for medical purposes, which captures a frame every one hundredth of a second so the FIA can see exactly what a driver has just experienced in a crash, and it’s all working with the car’s Accident Data Recorder (think like an airplane’s black box) that measures the external forces.
This data is available to the FIA in real time, so they have a clear awareness of the driver and their condition when an accident happens. Add in team radio, and it is clear if an injury has been sustained long before any medical or safety team would have been able to get to the car.
The reason you didn’t see a car or marshal appearing on track was very much for safety reasons. There were cars on qualifying laps and it’s never clear if something on the track could have led to a crash, or if a car failures could still result in someone losing control, even under yellows or once the track goes red.
So unless the safety systems and/or driver have suggested they need immediate attention, marshals and the medical car are not supposed to appear from behind the barrier until all cars are back in the pits and the track is clear. (This is actually why Sainz got fined, because he got out of the car and crossed the track before marshals were with him and could tell him when it was safe to do so).
Safety in all categories can always be improved, and F1 is no different. It can certainly learn from IndyCar (for example, a permanent medical response team that is dotted around trackside at every race would be beneficial) but to suggest that it is arrogant just because it does things differently — with many unseen aspects, just as I’m sure IndyCar has — is unfair.
Q: I have never been able to find an answer to this question. How can F1 cars go the entire race without having to refuel? IndyCars have to refuel multiple times during a race.
Luke, Michigan
CM: Two reasons, Luke. One is the size of the fuel tanks. An F1 car is capable of carrying over 100kg of fuel, so around 30 gallons, whereas an IndyCar fuel tank is nearly half that size.
The other is due to engine efficiency, and that’s just through choice of the regulations — F1 wanted more efficient engines from 2014 onwards. (Thermal efficiency, which is the amount of energy from the fuel that propels the car, is now over 50%, compared to around 30% in a road car).
IndyCar, on the other hand, allows refueling, so it has a smaller tank, and then you often put less fuel in than its capacity in order to keep it as light as possible to be as fast as possible during stints. But you can see the push for more efficient engines from the hybridization this year, which means more power for the same amount of fuel.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, September 25, 2013
Q: I just read where Raul Boesel was six laps behind Emmo and Little Al while they duked it out for the win at the ’89 Indy 500. If both Emmo and Little Al had crashed on lap 198, wouldn’t they have had to hold the scoreboard on lap 198 until Boesel had completely unlapped himself? Surely, a “what if?” occurrence like that had no precedent, right?
Michael Hackney, Nashville, TN
P.S. I wish IndyCar would come back to Nashville. Their races at the Superspeedway were mostly way better than the NASCAR races.
ROBIN MILLER: After a quick call to Donald Davidson, “You are correct, sir.” Boesel wouldn’t have taken the lead until lap 199.