Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber shuns safety regulations of IndyCar racing - Formula 1 news
Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber after paying condolences to Dan Wheldon, who died in last weekends’ IndyCar 300, says that he feels safer racing in Formula 1.
Wheldon died in a 15 car pile-up in Las Vegas. The accident has sparked a lot of criticism from drivers. At the IndyCar 34 cars race at the same time and that it has been the major question. What is the safety behind racing that many cars racing at high
speeds on only a 1.5 mile oval?
Formula 1 learned from one such sad incident, as well in 1994 Ayrton Senna died while racing. Although it was tragic, the incident helped Formula 1 tighten its safety rules. FIA has been called in to help with the investigation of the crash.
Webber in his column for BBC wrote, “I've never raced on an oval track but I've spoken to a lot of the guys who have,” Webber said. “One thing they don't like is the element of pack racing, especially on a short oval such as Las Vegas. Running three wide
on a track like that is not really racing. You're just getting a slipstream. Drivers look to move into a different lane - from the top to the bottom of the track, say - and things can happen.”
“But when you're doing 220mph in an open-wheeler, the cars can leave the ground by five or six metres and someone's going to get seriously hurt.” He further added.
The Australian remembered how he has been in some crashes in his career, in 1999 two Mercedes sports cars flipped within a span of three days at Le Mans.
He mentioned that in those split seconds, imagining the end is natural. Also, last year at Valencia Webber’s crash with Lotus driver Heikki Kovalainen was not a pretty sight either. The car landed upside down before hitting the barrier and flipped back.
Luckily he survived, but realises that it could have turned either way for him.
Webber still believes the safety at Formula 1 has come a long way and it is much better than IndyCar, rallying or MotoGP, which he says gives him the confidence to race.
Tags: