Это видео недоступно.
Сожалеем об этом.
F1'S KILLER YEARS! Looking at the Formula One Fatality Statistics 1950-1986
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 3 май 2022
- We're always told that the 1960s was the deadliest decade for racing in formula one. But was it? The way it's portrayed is as if there was a fatal crash at every corner at every race, but how different or more or less deadly was it compared to the 50s and the 70s either side?
It's a look over the statistics over the first thirty five years or so of the World Championship, and how the attitudes have changed today for the better. Let me know if it's been interesting.
Enjoy! And remember to like and subscribe for more!
Wikipedia images used under the following CC Licenses:
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
Flickr images used under the following CC Licenses:
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
creativecommon...
Business enquiries: amsimracing@gmail.com
Patreon: www.patreon.com/aidanmillward
Discord: / discord
Instagram: amillward01
Twitter: Aidan_Millward
Steam: AdmiralLaWind
----
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600 @3.9gHz
Motherboard: MSI B450 Mortar Micro ATX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x 8gb @ 3000mHz
GPU: MSI GTX1660 w/ slight OC
Editing Software: Sony Vegas 14 Steam Edition
Wheel: Simucube 2 Pro - Cube Controls Formula Pro Rim
Pedals: Fanatec Clubsport V3 with Brake Performance Kit
NIGEL ROEBUCK. Good to see people are watching tho.
Think I may have done a miscount. Twice. It's 13 killed in the 1960s, 14 for the 60s if you're including Clark, despite me saying he wasn't included due to being in an F2 car at the time.
Also got tripped up on the fatality table- Marimon killed in 54, originally read it as him being killed in 52. You can probably see the cut. 😅
Either way, still interesting statistics.
F2 seems more dangerous these days. That's just not acceptable.
Possibly the old ‘ejector seat’ model from the 1950’s of wearing no seatbelts not any safer than a six point harness in the 1960’s after all then…
Ascari was killed in a sport car, not F1
@@albertotroisi4961 fertile hunting ground that though to add to the body count…active, or recently active F1 drivers killed driving other formulas…
Adrian, what BBC documentary is this you mention? Thanks
The 1970s was a ridiculous time in motor racing. Cars were bloody fast but the safety had barely changed from the 30s. The amount of respect I have for drivers from 1967-1980 is HUGE.
Was probably worse by the 1970’s as the cars top speed and cornering speed had both increased massively, but it was still the old metal chassis, with metal tanks design that has been around since the war, but twice as fast…
indeed.
Doing some basic research on 1970’s formula one cars, I just cannot help noticing how fragile the machine were. When the car is crashed, it splits into two half and that’s when things get really serious like last years Haas when Grosjean had his fireball and Mick Schumacher also went into two half’s at the Saudi GP.
Yes that's right - I watched an interview with Sir Jackie Stewart and it referenced how tracks like Watkins Glen, where his friend and teammate Francois Cevert was killed in 1973, hadn't changed to accommodate the cars which had changed a lot. They were too narrow, bumpy and didn't have the correct run off areas.
Some worthwhile safety improvements came along in the ‘70s; bag fuel tanks that could better withstand accidents; more effective safety belts; full-face helmets; Armco and catch-fencing around circuits. But the speed of the cars seemed to increase faster than the rate at which safety improvements came on stream. Arguably safety overall got worse in this period - especially in the period when ground effects massively increased cornering speeds, but carbon fibre body tubs hadn’t yet arrived. I dread to think what the death toll would have been if the cars had still developed in that way, but the safety campaign led by Jackie Stewart hadn’t had an effect. That determination to improve matters no doubt saved many lives.
That accident of Tom Pryce is on RUclips, I don't know if it's age restricted, but seeing that marshall being essentially vanished from exhistance is awful to watch. I've seen the video when I just started secondary school and I still can't comprehend that they'd run across the track to put out a fire. Worst F1 crash you can find footage from in exhistance in my opinion.
*Edit* Thank you so much for the comments and the likes, guys!! I rarely post a comment that gets a lot of attention let alone 100 likes.
Agreed, any fatal crash is horrific but that one made me almost throw up
Yeah, not going near that one.
That crash ripped that marshall's jeans off and it all happens so fast. Truly surreal to actually witness.
I remember watching that same video and being gobsmacked at the 1. The bravery and 2. The stupidity. Haunting video to watch
I saw it on a series on what was MotorsTV. Mercifully they stopped the film when the marshall was about a foot away from the car. I was young when it happened, and because F1 being on TV wasn't exactly a regular event (it was starting to get there), I was fortunate to have missed it. I saw every available race (for my first 5-8 years, not that many - some were on way past my bedtime!), with the earliest one I remember being Graham Hill's last Monaco (not last win, last race).
Being Welsh, Tom Pryce's name was well-known and his death shocked the nation. My dad had been a rally driver, and a member of the Civil Defence and so had seen a _lot_ of death (he was one of those recovering bodies of children the same ages as my older sisters at Aberfan); Pryce's death still shocked him.
I cannot understand those who insist that motor racing of any type is "too safe". My knee-jerk reaction is to say, "okay, you do it, see how long you live in a car from the 70s," but I can't bring myself to say it and mean it.
I love motorbike racing, but there are still too many deaths and permanent injuries in it, so I feel guilty for watching it. I've seen far too many deaths on screen and wish I could make a wish that nobody would ever get a scratch in the name of thrills and my entertainment.
I believe that the carbon fiber chassis pioneered by McLaren in 1981 was the turning point for safety in F1
It convinced Niki Lauda to get out of retirement and win a third a world championship in 1984. But also around this time, tracks were becoming safer. Compare the Lesmo corners at Monza of the 1970s where guard rails were almost right up against the track (so no run off room at all) to that of the 1980s and especially today with runoff room and sand traps. John Watson had his big 1981 accident just little further down and hit a concrete barrier - so he was actually accelerating when he had his accident. Amazing that he walked away from that.
@@mikloslipcsey7923 so essentialy, mclaren made the sport safer, although they never planned to do that??
There were a lot of changes introduced in the 1970s that helped too, for example the requirement for a central located bladder type fuel cell combined with selfseal dry-break fuel couplings helped end the horrific fires we had seen in earlier years.
@@jwork5680 While safety was a concern at McLaren, I think the designers and engineers were more enticed by carbon fibre’s (CF) unique strength to lightness properties that would enable their cars to get the competitive edge. The fact that John Watson walked away from the accident and it was more of a case “We couldn’t believe the safety of CF was that good!”
@@mikloslipcsey7923 they were definitely interested at the lightness of carbon fiber, but the fact that everyone thought carbon fiber was not safe was really cool
I still think of Senna. When his body was recovered, an Austrian flag was found. Senna had intended to fly that flag in the cool down lap after the race. I have the "Senna" DVD and can never make it to the end because I break down crying.
Hell, the Senna tribute with Jeremy Clarkson, Brundle, and Hamilton has to be the greatest segment that "Top Gear" ever produced.
I also have the Senna DVD, I only watched it once, it is good look at his life, but because of the ending I can't watch it again.
I was fortunate enough to spend 3 days with him at a F1 test at Pembrey. He was a thoroughly decent chap.
The GP of San Marino in 1994 was the same weekend as NASCAR's Winston 500 at Talladega. During his interview in victory circle, Dale Earnhardt mentioned Senna by name and gave his condolences, and his car carried a Brazilian flag decal on the B pillar for the remainder of the 1994 season.
There is a reason why Mario Andretti said that in his early years - just about every weekend a driver he knew died. Helps when he was running so many different series (especially sprint cars that were known to be widow makers) as well - he knew a LOT of drivers.
Yes, I remember Mario was asked what was the most difficult or challenging car to drive in his career? He replied, USAC Sprints.
Jackie Stewart said the same thing.
In the '60s the first race of the USAC/Indy car season was at Phoenix. The season ended in October, again at Phoenix. Mario said once that during the drivers meeting at the first race he would look around and try to guess "Who's not going to be here when we come back in October?" And he didn't mean unemployed.
Really sorry to hear about Tony Brooks, a life well lived. He, Hans Hermann, Surtees & Moss added a perspective few had from back then. I'm really glad they lived to tell the tale & we got them on 'film' to talk about it. They were treasures to us young-uns even if we're in our sixties.
I think Maria de Vilota deserves to be mentioned, for the reason that a forensic doctor has testified that her death was directly linked to the injuries she sustained in her testing accident, you can also make a similar claim for niki lauda
The list doesn’t seem to include private test sessions. Ascari wasn’t on the list either.
@@AidanMillward tho Ascari as far as I know didn't die in an F1 car
@@AidanMillward she was testing a F1 car at the time of her accident, she wouldn't be on the list because she died some time after the accident, although as I say a doctor testified that her death was directly linked to the accident
@@russotusso1695 he was in a sports car. Yes I am off the fucking hook!
@@AidanMillward weren't they all private test sessions until the 90's in a bid to reduce costs? From what I can remember Brabham had the track to themselves when de Angelis was killed.
I think Mark donohue's death is an interesting story to look into how it changed safety standards for drivers after an accident in 1975 and beyond
did it?
My dad still mentions Mark's death every few years. He was at driving school when Mark was testing a new Porsche way back when.... And always speaks of him in reverance.
He was the vehicle dynamics genius
He was the vehicle dynamics genius
He would tell the story how Mark took a hammer and screw driver to the underside of the aluminum Porsche shell so the pooling water would drain from the car. I want to say the 917, but will have to ask.
Whilst the 2000 decade doesn't have any fatal accidents for drivers, there were a couple of marshals killed due to debris. Wheel tethers have undoubtedly helped.
Australia and then two at Monza in as many years.
One thing that is often overlooked is just how dangerous just ATTENDING a race weekend is!
Just as drivers accept the risk when they get into their cars, spectators also make a far less obvious choice of accepting the risk, as any number of accidents could leave a tire or other debris to be fired into the stands, potentially killing someone...
I bring this up because i have been a specator at an event, and a freak accident almost cost me an eye, or worse!
I was attending a classic race in Aarhus, Denmark, when a Ford Escort crashed near where we stood to watch the race, and everything was fine. But then, in the very next race, a bolt from the car that was missed on track during the cleanup got picked up by another car, and shot directly into my face, hitting me just above the left eye, knocking me out briefly...
I was bleeding like crazy, with no memory of what happened, and i was rushed to the paramedic tent where i got 7 stitches and a trip to the hospital for observation and further tests, luckily escaping with just the stitches!
And that was just a quarter inch bolt. Anyhting larger, and it could just as easily have fractured my skull...
So just because you go to a race to have fun, it doesn't mean that you are out of danger of being part of the racing history statistics...
Jackie Stewart was the only man to have balls to say to Senna that "you have crashed more than anyone else in two years" and hence the now immortal quite; "If there is a gap, you'll go for it, otherwise you are no longer a racing driver".
This video is pretty much my entire EPQ project at A level a few years ago. I would say that the drop off in the 80s was down to Sid Watkins. After Ronnie Petersen died he made numerous changes such as the medical car on the opening lap and improved medical centres with properly trained doctors.
There was very much a power struggle between tracks and management at the time. In the instance of Petersens crash, Sid was restricted from entering the track and assisting and was basically ignored by doctors at the hospital. Sadly Ronnie’s death was a catalyst for so many of the improvements that helped reduce fatalities from the 80’s onwards
Whilst I agree that Sid Watkins had a significant influence, we shouldn't forget the pioneering efforts Louis Stanley made in the 1960s. Without him there would have been no medical centres for Sid to improve!
Jackie Stewart had been pushing for more, faster, and better medical facilities at tracks for quite some years. Started after he himself was trapped upside down in a crashed F1 car, 1966 I think, with fuel dripping all over him; waiting for a spark. Then totally incompetent, bumbling slow, distant unprepared medical help.
Normally you only see the people you know dying in droves if you're in a war, or if you live well into your 80's or 90's.
Tragic years indeed. Although I was young and still in highschool, I attended the race and witnessed the horrific accident between the marshall and Tom Pryce at Kyalami. It happened right in front of my grandstand seat. I still remember it as clear as a bell all these years later.
I only saw that accident on video and it's never left me, I cant begin to imagine how hard it must be for an eye witness, you have my deepest sympathy
As a relatively new fan to F1, really glad to have discovered this channel. It's a great way to dive in to F1's history and understand various nuances behind them
Great way to catch up to the dedicated fan base. Thank you for what you do mate!
@ShadyWhisper 84 . . . a marvelous timepiece of F1 history can be found in the movie: "Grand Prix" from 1966. I was a serious follower of F1 racing from the mid-1960s onward. And while the Grand Prix movie was fictional, it did well to mirror the reality of the F1 racing scene back then, especially with how the Ferrari team was portrayed. In fact, it amazed me Ferrari allowed the movie's producers access with the team, as the movie showed the Ferrari team as being flawed.
Imagine getting scorn and derision for being an advocate for safety during F1's most lethal period.
Sir Jackie Stewart deserves an entire track named for him.
Well said.
And, it's worth mentioning that Rindt and Bonnier would both die in racing accidents that would probably be survivable today.
@@kyle381000 indeed
@@kyle381000 Rindt's accident was survivable then, but he refused to wear the seat belt properly for fear of being trapped in the car.
To anyone thinking of looking up the Tom Pryce footage:
Just. Don’t.
That video will stay with me the rest of my life and I wouldn’t wish anyone to be feeling what I still am 30 mins after watching it.
I saw that race replay when i was about 8 and it scared the shit out of me.
I was in the stand at corner 1 where the car of Tom Pryce hit Jacques Lafitte. It was not a good experience.
I've seen it many times. I've also seen Monte Carlo 1967
Worst thing I've ever seen...best avoided...
Yeah I wish I hadn't seen that video.
From the mid-1960s into the '70s, F1 driver Chris Amon was considered unlucky, as he always drove competitively, but victory in the FIA sanctioned races always eluded him.
But I read an online article about Amon after his retirement from racing many years later, where that "unlucky" moniker was brought up; where his response was that he considered himself _lucky_ to have survived into old age after competing in Formula 1 racing for a decade.
Would have been interesting to have a "deaths per race" stat when comparing the decades. The early years didn't have a lot of events each year so the number of deaths is even more shocking. Had there been 22+ races each years in the 60s or 70s the numbers would have been even higher
Absolutely. There were only ten races in the F1 season in1960, for example. That's also why so many grand prix drivers raced in other categories throughout the season and were subsequently killed in other races. In my mind, I count them all.
@@tomindenver1331 But as the death count also includes non-championship races, it rises the number of races a lot, Liberty Media has wet dreams about these numbers. 1961 had 9 championship races, yes. BUT 23 NON-CHAMPIONSHIP RACES! The number was close to that until 1965 when it was mere 9 non-championship ones, but inclusion of those races make the total race number to be the 15-19 races per year until the 70's. The same total number continued, as champ race numbers went up, but non-champs came down. 1980 actually had only total of 15 races, 14+1. After that, it was 1983 Race of champions in Brands Hatch which was the last one. Most likely the risen standards for safety meant that circuits would have had to make big investments and didn't want to. Also racing got more serious and FIA ruled.
When I was a young man with curiosities I tried to take a look at Tom Pryce's accident.
That was a decision I regret until today.
1982 was probably the final watershed moment that got F1 to REALLY take safety seriously. The deaths of Villeneuve and Paletti, plus the career ending injuries to Pironi saw F1 do things like ban ground effects and make other rules to improve safety of the cars. Before that the focus of safety was more on the tracks, but unsafe cars on safer tracks still leads to disaster.
As a NASCAR fan in addition to F1,there are similarities between the two in terms of how both were slow to take safety seriously. For NASCAR it was the period of 2000-2001 which ended with the death of the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. that NASCAR finally took safety seriously because after that, things such as the HANS device & safer barriers were introduced/made mandatory. Since then there hasn't been a single fatality in NASCAR.
I was rather surprised when F1 announced ground effect cars were back for this season. It was done away with because of it being unsafe. It's still unsafe & quite likely to be the cause of accidents again.
@@chrisguardiano6143 I've seen an interview from around that time where Darrell Waltrip is basically outraged that Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin weren't enough to send a message to NASCAR that something needed to be done. That it took a further three fatalities for NASCAR to stop being asleep at the wheel is inexcusable.
Bill Vukavich’s death is sad. He was leading and a rookie tangled with him, sending him flipping over the wall which then went into a series of end over end cartwheels before landing upside down.
He was my father's favorite driver my father went to like 20 straight Indy 500s and he said that was the one that kind of bothered him a little a little bit but don't worry Life goes on
died on his way to his third win in a row… interestingly, he had his two wins in a car numbered #14, a number later made famous by this first driver to make four wins.
The account is not entirely correct. Three cars collided on the back straight in front of him, initiated by a very experienced driver who hit the outside hall, possibly due to gust of wind as there was a cross wind on the back straight. The car bounced back on the track, stopping in the racing line. The second car swerved and was struck by the third car. Vukovich was next on the scene. He could not avoid the third car, hitting it in the back, launching and then catapulting over the outside wall.
Also sad is that his grandson, Billy Vukovich III was also killed, though in a sprint car. Billy Jr., also a racer, saw both his father and son killed in race crashes.
@@kailahmann1823 Wow, I never knew that and it is strange that the national media never picked in that.
Ah yes the good old days when men still had balls to drive real cars
-every 5-year-old car enthusiast
Exactly. It bugs the crap out of me when some knucklehead says that. Frankly, if losing an average of one driver per year is the price for having "men with balls driving real cars", it's ridiculously too high a price to pay.
@@almostfm I like to imagine the drivers who survived the period would not take kindly to being told they're "real drivers" for that reason
Completely agree. Those same fans would complain that they didn't have anyone to root for once their favorites died in wrecks instead of continuing with careers that should have lasted far longer, which does neither fan interest nor the sport any good, "real cars" be damned.
Interesting to think how different the stats of F1 history could have been with safety either ignored or implemented much earlier. I'm glad driver's can walk away from such high speed crashes. Thanks for another great video.
When I was in university studying Safety, Health and Environmental management, I did a presentation on how F1 safety has rapidly grown over the decades. I had to watch the Tom Pryce crash to determine if I should put it into my presentation and immediately was like no. I spoke about it with no visual aids and I got questioned why I didn't put it in. My answer simply was "I felt it was disrespectful to show such horrifying footage". I ended up getting a 2-1 for that presentation
I'm probably from another country so what is a 2-1?
@@digitalcamaro9708 A 2-1 is basically the grade below a 1st which is the highest grade you can get for a university assignment. It means I scored between 60 and 69 out of 100. 70+ is a 1st for reference
@@bimbocindy All because you didn't show a gruesome crash? Wow.
I would've said "You don't want to see it. Trust me."
@@digitalcamaro9708 The thing with Health and Safety in general is the only reason its as extensive as it is, is because somewhere in the world someone was either seriously injured or killed. One of my lecturers put it best. "Health and Safety is a book written in blood."
I follow F1 since 1970 (Not by accident, the year Emerson Fittipaldi made his way into Lotus). I've seen (in most cases literally) many of my heroes die. Siffert, Peterson, Revson, Pedro Rodriguez, and a lot more. Not to mention those that were forced to give up racing for the injuries they got. Sad times, for sure.
As an American, I associate "the racing dentist" with noted Indy Racing League superstar Jack Miller, who was (and indeed is) a practicing dentist. He was also the 1993 "b class" champion in Indy Lights, which sounds impressive at first because Indy Lights at the time was cranking out stars like Greg Moore. But Indy Lights was a spec series that had just introduced a new car, and the "b class" was for anyone still running the old one, derived from a March F3000 chassis. There weren't a lot of takers, though, and Miller was helped along considerably by having the most starts of any b-class competitor by far.
I started watching F1 as a youngster in the early '70s with my dad, I still remember clearly how he turned off the tv as soon as there was a bad crash or even a hint of fire. Even though F1 is so safe nowadays my blood still runs cold if there is a large impact or any fire.
I didn't start watching F1 regularly until the late -90s and had a decade or more of a break between -06 and -19 somewhere. When Schumacher teared up at his 41st win, I went into researching Senna which led me down a rabbithole of researching deaths in F1 and watching videos of them. Crashes scare the bejeezus out of me to this day. Minor mishaps and tangles are part of the deal, but I don't want to see anyone get more than a slight bruising. Thinking how close Grosjean was to actually being trapped in his car is horrifying.
@@charamia9402 Grojean's accident freaked me out , it's testament to the work done over the decades that he survived with so few injuries.
@@fourutubez7294 It is. The regulations for safety in racing today is written by the blood of those who were taken too soon. That's why we need to remember them.
For what it's worth, Albert Park has a corner named after Jackie Stewart.
If I ever win the lottery and buy a racing circuit, I'm going to rename one of the chicanes the "Stewart S". That guy's a legend, and deserves more respect.
I reckon the use of carbon fibre tubs instead of the thin aluminium sandwich panels that were the main structure of the chassis from the early 60s till the early 80s is probably what caused the sudden drop in the number of deaths starting in the 80s.
It might be interesting to do a similar video on the progression of safety at Indy … or maybe CART/Champ/IRL … as you did sort of tease it here.
I've been a racing fan since I was a boy in '63, and was even then appalled by the death toll in racing in Europe and the U.S., although it didn't put me off racing; I suppose I just accepted the carnage as part of the game. Looking back, I'm honestly surprised that drivers such as Gurney, Surtees, Foyt, Andretti, Petty, and Pearson survived to ripe old ages despite racing many more times in a year, because they would race in different forms of the sport (imagine Hamilton or Verstappen having a go in NASCAR at Watkins Glen or Sonoma, or Alex Palou or Josef Newgarden racing at LeMans).
Even Jimmy Clark raced in NASCAR. I know they tried to talk him into taking a go in a sprint car, but he decided against it. That would have been something to see, but probably glad he didn't do it. I can imagine the recriminations if he had tried and been killed or injured.
American Motor Sports had/have a better safety response crew compared to F1 in the 70s. Goodys powder keeps Petty alive.
Found you on a suggestion and been watching some of your earlier posts. Love my motorsport, your knowledge is amazing. It’s given me more understanding about the sport in general. Thank you.
One of the things I found interesting was the difference in how Indycar proactively acted to really stepping up not only the construction of the cars, but also the marshaling and facilities. Sid Watkins was huge for Formula One, but it seemed that the work that Dr’s. Steve Olvey and Terry Trammell did was a few ticks above what F1 did. I think that has to do with the fact there were so many oval tracks on the IndyCar schedule. So there were more hard crashes that had to be dealt with and we’re available to use as a database. Formula One didn’t have impacts like indycar did, so my guess is they had a comfortable bandwidth of safety in the 80s and early 90s before the Imola weekend in 1994. That unfortunately was a huge reality check.
I would also encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it to watch Rapid Response. The details the improvements in safety for the IndyCar series.
@@jonnyspa27 I also strongly recommend the book of the same name that inspired it, written by Dr. Olvey.
@@msnovtue I will check that out. Thank you very much!
If you search for F1 fatals here, you won't find much because of lack of coverage back then. Your description of Pryce's death had my mind's eye working and when you describe that sequence, I said to myself, I'm glad I didn't see that one. I watched Senna and Earnhardt's crash live, and you always hope for the for a good outcome, knowing all the while it might not happen. Very well done.
Nice job, mate. Always thought the old ways were the worst but it seems from this things were about equally bad until the early 80s
Freak accidents will always happen. Tom Pryce's crash, when he was hit in the head by a fire extinguisher, would still have been fatal as late as in 2017. The halo, on the other hand, would have saved his life. But there is no doubt that Jochen Rindt most likely had survived his crash at Monza without injuries, had it happened today.
Rinds certainly would have survived today. Had he been wearing the full five point harness that was available at the time, he might have survived.
@@jeremypnet And if Colin Chapman hadn't experimented with removing the rear wing, which made the car unstable, he may have not crashed at all.
@@LapsangTe I understand your point. However, the crash was caused by a broken inboard brake shaft which hurled the car hard left into a guardrail which partially collapsed. Any 'instability' caused by the absence of a rear wing did not contribute to the crash.
Great video! Personally, I always found a strong irony in the Stewart/Senna interview (viewable online) where Sir Jackie points out the excessive number of shunts that Senna was involved in, many more than other F1 World Champions. Senna got all huffy with him, somehow overlooking the unsaid part that if it weren't for the safety features added to cars & tracks, many instigated by Stewart over the years, maybe Senna wouldn't have been able to ping-pong into so many crashes and survive to race another day.
In a now-deleted video (cos copyright) I had the actual stats of how many collisions senna and Prost had been involved in. Will have to find it again.
Nice video.
FYI, the Top Gear lorry episode was filmed at Millbrook.
And yes it’s unacceptable that there are no corners names after Steward.
Aidan, as I understand it, only two GP winners from the '60s are still with us : Jacky Ickx & Jackie Stewart.
A 190 mph sudden stop would kill anyone. My father was taught that when he was flying Hurricanes & Mustangs in World War2 .
no views 2 likes?
no micheal this is not right!
People click like at the start of the video. They're still watching if the likes are higher than the views. Quite simple really.
RUclips’s counter is on a delay.
Aidan, I understand that for calculating purposes it is easier to confine the parameters to F1 but in reality so many of the F1 drivers through the 50s', 60s' and 70s' competed in other events such as sports car and F2. Jack Brabham wrote that something like 30 drivers he knew were killed in the sport; an interview with a sports car driver of the 60s' or 70s' (I cant remember his name) spoke of someone he knew dying every month. He firmly believed that it was him who was going to be next. By confining the statistic to F1 alone you lose sight of the absolute carnage that went through the sport in those early decades. The drop-off in the 80s' was, I believe, due to better construction techniques and circuit safety started to be taken seriously.
Safety was the main reason why Henri Toivonen didn't pursue F1 career and went to rallying instead. He had the talent and Eddie Jordan and Keke Rosberg were willing to support him, but Henri's farther is said to have said: "Don't go to Formula, I don't want to lose a son." It's kind of tragic that in just that time in the early 1980's F1 safety improved massively and rallying became much more dangerous with the introduction of Group B.
I was at Brands Hatch the day Jo Sieffert died when his car ploughed straight on into the barrier at Hawthorns. I was in the BRSCC member's stand and had invited a Frenchman, a complete stranger, in as a guest. He asked me if anyone had been killed at the circuit and I said no. The worst I'd witnessed was a broken leg. 13 laps in and suddenly there was a huge fireball rising above the trees on South Bank!
Great video! I confess, though that it feels like there's a touch of dissonance between the title (and the topic) and the jazzy, almost Christmas-y intro music. I really do appreciate these historical F1 videos, though, like the one about Von Trips among others.
Worth noting that although 2000-2010 was the first decade without a driver death there was at least 1 marshall killed. I remember one around the early 2000s at Monza and i think there was at least 1 other in the same decade.
iirc there was an incident in Montreal when rescueing a car (Sauber) from the track, and probably one in Melbourne (Villeneuve's accident in 3rd corner). But good point, we should recall all fatal incidents related to races, a no name's life is still a life.
Great video you missed one Carel Gordin de Beaufort was killed in practice for the 1964 Nerburgring Grand Prix in a privately entered Porsche 718 keep up the good work
Le man’s got crazier than F1 did. Before they put chicanes on the Mulsanne straight, they were hitting 250mph in cars with very minimalistic aluminium space frames.
When Ratzenberger died it was an absolute shock; we'd got used to drivers surviving extremely violent accidents. For example just five years earlier Berger survived a huge fiery shunt at the same track, and there had been a couple of others at the same spot (Piquet suffersl today with neurological problems). A year later Donnelly narrowly survived the disintegration of his Lotus at Jerez, and that same year Warwick walked away from a rollover at Monza. So for my generation a driver dying was unbelievable.
And all of that was before what came on Sunday.
Just the day before there was Rubens.
I was at the Dutch GP in 73. The English commentator announced Williamson's death after about halfway through the race. The only driver seemingly aware of what had happened was Hulme who had passed the pits many times shaking his fist at the officials. I always wondered why he simply didn't pull in and do more.
Also worth noting that despite being killed in World Endurance, both Stefan Bellof and Manfred Winkelhock were active F1 drivers at the time of their deaths in 1985.
Alberto Ascari, Luigi Fagioli, Jim Clark (F2), Mike Spence (Indy), Jo Bonnier (though I think he was done with F1 by then) Ivor Bueb, Alfonso De Portago, Bruce McLaren, Joe Fry (hillclimb) Louis Rosier, Ludovico Scarfiotti, Raymond Sommer (F3) All died in other series while active in F1, Sportscars of some sort unless indicated
Tom Pryce's accident at Kyalami is the worst I've seen in motor racing. The marshal's body just explodes and flies in all directions. Perhaps the most heartbreaking death in F1 to watch is Roger Williamson's in 1973 at Zandvoort. The marshals don't do nearly enough to save him and it's left to fellow driver David Purley to try to rescue Williamson, but to no avail. Purley's grief is overwhelming. Every driver's death hits a fan hard. For me, as a boy, Gilles Villeneuve's death was shocking...he seemed like a legend, one of the all time greats, it was hard to take in. Elio DeAngelis was one of those drivers every fan liked as a human being. The news of his death hit hard because he was a good driver and a man of charm and grace. Thank goodness the sport is safer now, but every motor racing fan of a certain age has a driver death that affects them the most. For me, it's Gilles.
I was too young to remember senna (even though I watched the race), so all I’ve got to go on is Bianchi.
Great video as always 👍
I had read about the Tom Pryce accident before, (I never want to see it), but hearing your description of it was just so harrowing. Truly horrific
One sobering number is that the 1955 Le Mans accident killed 83 spectators, or more than the total number of drivers killed in the entire history of F1, including historic racing. Of course, there are far more spectators than drivers, so the risks are vastly higher to the drivers, but it's astonishing how one event could kill so many.
Yes, it is astonishing. However, after seeing the video many times, I have wondered how it wasn't worse than it was.
You proove there CAN be an Intelligent Albion Racing commentator, I Salute you!!
@ Aidan Millward I love this channel. You and Scarf and Goggles are my two favorite racing history channels. Thanks for all you do!
NASCAR has a long history of driver fatalities as well. For them, the big "flip the switch" moment came in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed in the Daytona 500. He was the 4th driver killed in an on-track accident in 9 months across NASCAR's 3 national series (then called Winston Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman Truck Series). There hasn't been a driver killed since in any of the top 3 series. The fact that we've gone 21 years in that sport without a fatality would've been unheard of even in the late 90's. I bring all this up because I'm wondering what would've been the "flip-the-switch" moment for F1 when the sport decided enough was enough and did something to drastically improve driver safety?
Most likely, Senna.
Thanks again brother, I was at Crowthorn corner that fateful day, we were all watching the car on fire. Sad day
The 70’s is probably my favourite era, incredibly fast cars for even today’s standards, incredible drivers and most dancing the cars sideways around corners, the tracks were quite rough too but the danger of it all is just horrendous, just imagine how dangerous it would’ve been with ground effect cars going over bumpy tracks as crazy as the Nordschleife. I thought it was around 5 killed that decade but bloody hell I was wrong
It's always fun watching the old grand prix's where half of the field are left littering the track as wrecks. I don't think a single driver went into the back of one of those wrecks during all of that time, but now we must stop the race for 20mins each time someone is off the track. I'd say they didnt take safety seriously at all, even after Senna's crash, and the safety cell only came about after Jules Bianchi crashed during a safety car, ironically.
I've watched footage from Tom's accident 6 years ago, it was terrifying. I knew both men were killed instantly, but the smashed car by the fire extinguisher on a parking lot was a detail I haven't heard about. I'm an F1 historian myself since childhood, but this was one of the most detailed accedint description I've ever encountered. Great content.
I have seen a still photo of the moment Pryce's car collides with the Ligier going into Crowthorne at the end of the straight. You can clearly see Laffitte's helmeted head sitting high in the cockpit. In contrast, Pryce's car appears to be unmanned. Where you should see his helmeted head you see... nothing. There's nothing there.
My cousin, who is married to an ex-F1 driver who I won't name for privacy reasons, says that in this era they went to more funerals than weddings. F1 was a dangerous place to be.
Very interesting video. Thanks for putting this together. I've been a keen F1 fan since 1966 & can count on one hand how many races I've missed. Although not sure if it's because I'm now getting old but this year somehow I feel like the magic seems to be lacking.
Let's hope F1 & all Motorsport continues to remain as safe as it is now.
I was present at all three F1 races in South Africa 🇿🇦, where drivers were killed. I was in utero in 62 at Westmead when Gary Hocking died, Kyalami in 74 with Revson & 77 with Tom Pryce. As a youngster, it was pretty unnerving.
Did you consider doing a death count based on spectators and marshals who have died as a result of on track accidents or pit incidents? I think spectator deaths have gone down as well. That's one of the reasons for catch fences, barriers and tethers. I don't mean to be ghoulish but safety has improved so much during the 1990's and 2000's as a result of debris incidents. The Halo, harness and helmet technologies have improved survivability as well.
I would have included Stefan Bellof, Manfred Winkelhock, and Michele Alboreto to this list even though they died in sports cars. I might have mentioned F1 dodged a bullet in 1990 when Martin Donnelly survived his appalling accident or Erik Comas? Anyway great work!!
I find it interesting that Jochen Rindt, who raced twice without incident in the Indy 500, stopped racing there because he deemed it too dangerous, but ended up getting killed in an F1 race. In the 70's and 80's, there were fewer fatalities in IndyCar racing than in F1, but since that time, F1 has seen fewer than IndyCar. I guess it's because of ovals. Since the Senna crash, F1 has had one fatality (Bianchi) and IndyCars 8, 6 of which were on ovals. I can only think of two F1 drivers who were killed in IndyCars, Mike Spence & Justin Wilson. Besides Rindt, Indy veterans who were killed in F1 were Mark Donohue & Peter Revson. If you really want to stretch it, Jimmy Clark, like Rindt certainly not considered an "IndyCar driver", but who raced safely at Indy several times, and won once, was killed in an F2 race.
Indycar made improvements for car safety earlier then F1, but Ovals are just way more dangerous then any F1 track. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has 36 fatalities in Indycar. The next closest tracks only get 4 in their lifetimes. Helps that Indianapolis has been around since the 1920s of course. But the vast majority of fatalities in Indycar have been Oval tracks. One of the other fatalities since 1994 was at a street track. Only 1 was at an actual racetrack, Laguna Seca, and that was unfortunately just driver error, lost track of which corner he was up to and full throttled through the entry to the corkscrew. They didn't have heaps of protection there because drivers would normally be going a lot slower into that corner because of how slow it is. It was initially supposed the driver had a stuck throttle, but it was shown through telemetry that wasn't the case. Street tracks and ovals are always going to be somewhat dangerous, no matter how safe you try and make it, and that's where Indycar does most of it's racing.
I once watched Tom Pryce's incidents and bloody hell, I will never ever watch it on purpose. It was horrific.
If i am ignoring your left shoulder, very well done recap sir.
That’s not dandruff. That’s come off my face.
It’s that time of year. 😔
Very tastefully done!
A very good review of this tragic side of our sport. Thanks and see you next time.
What happens when you factor in injuries especially figures for those who never raced again? That's another big change from that era
It's something like every 2 or 3 World Championship Grands Prix would see the end of an F1 career, or at least an enforced break.
I guess Clay Reggazoni was probably the most famous, being paralyzed from a crash, I think at Long Beach.
Tom Pryce's 1977 fatality still sticks in my head as the most cruel and horrific death to happen to a supremely talented underdog in F1. Both he and the marshal should have never gone out that way. Yet it was chalked up as just another death at the time. I don't think it even changed much in the sport. We all like to think that Clarks death or even Roger Williamsons televised slow and graphic demise was what kicked F1's arse hard enough for them to get it together, but the sad reality is that it arguably took until 1983 before safety really started evolving into what you see today
When talking about fire deaths you could have mentioned Romain Grosjean as an example of how things have changed for the better. A number of things came together to save his life,
1. The carbon fibre tub resisting the impact from the barrier
2. The halo device stopping the barrier hitting his head as he went through it
3. The HANS device probably saving his neck from being broken
4. The fire resistant race suit giving him 30+ seconds to get out of the flames
5. The medical car following on the first lap
6. Marshalls with fire extinguishers, especially the guy who pushed the flames back while Romain was climbing over the barrier.
All this was great but there are learning points to make things even better, such as have the fuel tank stay with the rear of the car when the car splits instead of staying with the cockpit and potentially cooking the driver. The gloves could probably see some improvement too as his hands were a bit crispy.
It is shocking that the numbers from the 50s, 60s and 70s are as low as they are considering a lot of the tracks didn't have chicanes, had kerb and then grass instead of gravel, and hay bails were often the only barriers placed around the track. You literally had to keep the car between the white lines to even have a chance of surviving most races. To see footage of the old Spa with the houses right next to the track is mind blowing. The old F1 races were basically the Isle Of Man TT but with 4 wheels.
So true! One other statistic not explorer is spectator injuries/fatalities. I think Gilles Villeneuve had an accident that killed some fans at a Japanese GP, '77, but I'm not certain. Von Trips with many at Monza. There were more I'm sure
@@davehayhurst1780 Wikipedia confirms Japan '77: Villeneuve and Peterson collided, and the debris killed a photographer trespassing in a prohibited trackside area and a marshall trying to clear the trespassers out of that area.
Bloody hell! This is an horrific one Aiden... 😳 thank you for the content... the mind boggles now when drivers walk away from 150+ mph crashes!
Walk away, get checked over, might end up with some bruising on the ribs at worst most of the time.
@@Ramtamtama exactly mate, I love cars and motor racing but fair play they still bigger whatsits than me... we have technology to thank for our hero's to walk away only soiling their undies 👌🙏
McLaren team has always made the very safe cars (with only one more serious injury during the almost 60 years of history) and one of the most important safety invention by McLaren is the tough carbon fibre cocpit invented in 1980.
Bloody interesting good work young Millward. 👍😁
Jackie Stewarts efforts is why he is rightly now Sir Jackie, not for just winning some races in by far the best car as others have gained an easy 'Sir'.
And there it is. The comment that has to mention Hamilton despite him not being in any way associated with the video.
Such a great youtube channel. Bravo
Was the sudden drop in fatal incidents anything to do with the use of carbon fibre instead of steel? I remember John Watson crashing at Monza and people saying that the use of carbon fibre is what kept the car relatively intact, whereas a few years earlier it would have disintegrated.
I've been unfortunate enough to witness a motor racing death "live" as a spectator at basically a clubman level type event. A freak accident but something I'll always remember. Anytime I see a big incident now on the TV I just hold my breath and hope they are ok. The Felipe Massa incident a few years back at Hungary when he was hit by flying debris scared the s*it out of me at the time. The Greg Moore fatality in Indycar after his enormous crash was another I watched on TV live and there was little doubt that he was gone. You just knew. Terrible things but as long as they are remembered, improvements will always continue.
I was working in Timing and scoring at Laguna Seca when Gonzalo Rodriguez was killed in.practice. I can't imagine what it was like for that corner worker...
I think there were a number of converging factors from around 1980 which contributed to the sharp decrease in F1 fatalities:
1) The work pioneered by Jackie Stewart et al in the late 60's/early 70' had time to be adopted by most/all tracks in the F1 calendar. The removal of Spa (until 1984 when a much shortened and safer version was re-introduced), old Nurburgring and Watkins Glen to name just 3 would also have helped. So too the introduction of gravel traps, tyre walls, catch fencing and armco - some of these safety measures had their own issues but they all played a part.
2) Introduction of carbon fibre chassis. No longer would a car fold up or disintegrate in almost every high-speed accident. Having a driver cocooned in a safety cell allowed many to survive accidents which were unsurvivable previously.
3) Better protection for fuel tanks. The biggest risk of fire in the 80's came from the potential for ignition during fuel stops. Very few accidents in the 80's resulted in any kind of ignition (Berger @ Imola being one of the few)
4) Better marshalling and race organisation. Zandvoort was criticised for their part in Piers Courrage's fatal accident - they were dropped from the F1 calendar for a couple of years, then improved (so they thought) their organisation and marshalling only to then be largely culpable for Roger Williamson's horrifying death in 74. After this, Kyalami in 77, Fuji 77 & Zolder in 81 all the circuits realised they had to do much, much better in terms of race management, communications and marshalling.
Great video Aidan - it would be interesting to see the stats for ALL Formula 1 drivers who lost their lives during that period since, for much of the time, most drivers took part in non-F1 activities as a matter of course. This would show how dangerous motorsport in general was, not just F1.
Very good and clear analysis of a very tragic subject.
🤔
awesome video, a difficult watch but very interesting. Obviously F1 and motorsport in general are still dangerous, even with amazing safety improoments like HANS and Halo, it is important that the sport does not become complacent and is cautious with new ways of powering raceing cars
I think we forget about Ricardo Rodriguez he was killed in his home track while testing his Rob Walkers Lotus in 1962.
He crashed at fast and quite banked peraltada corner and his crash was quite similar to François Cevert in 1973. John Surtees stated that Rodriguez might not familiar with the car because the Lotus was light compared to Ferrari which is heavy and understeery.
The sharp drop of deaths in the 80s correllates highly with the introduction of carbon fibre monocoques.
8:15 - Bob Anderson is worth an episode in his own right - he was probably one of the last lone privateers who raced over multiple seasons
It might be a better representation to just put the kills on the timeline. Using decades artificially groups events into meaningless clusters. After 1982 deaths became rare. With the artificial 'barrier' at 1980, it makes 80ties look a lot worse than they were. Let the data create event clusters, not the presentation itself.
Plus then you can also insert other events on the same timeline to see what safety changes actually had an effect (big sidepods, introduction of the helicopter standing by, GPDA...)
That is a top class documentary. Stewart's story on what happened to him at a very very wet in 60s was crazy.
Great video as always. That documentary was good i remember it. When is the greatest British champion episode coming out i would luv to see a video on John surtees only 7time champ i know to win at the isle of mann
What’s also worth noting is how the safety of road cars hadn’t changed much since the 70s. Even all the way up to the early 00s cars were like tin cans. Look at how cars have changed in just 10 years, 2012 to 2022. Then look at cars from 1970 to 1990. Obviously engines and brakes were better but in terms of safety they were pretty much the same.
Tons of people that deserve credit for the safety of not only F1 cars, but road going cars as well
First time I came across the footage of Pryce’s fatal crash, I couldn’t sleep for days
It's a sad topic to dwell on, but it is also important to remember the losses the sport suffered over the years. You can add to these statistics additional tragedies of F1 drivers who were killed in other forms of racing in the 50's, 60's, 70's and even 80's. In those days race drivers did not specialize in just one series, they participated in top level racing in a variety of cars - particularly in sports car/endurance racing. And quite a few F1 drivers lost their lives in sports car events or testing - Alberto Ascari died testing a sports car for an endurance race and of course there was Levegh and that horrible day at Le Mans in 55, later on Bonnier also at Le Mans, Pedro Rodriguez in a sports car race in Germany, and even as late as the mid-80's both Bellof and Winklehock died in major sports car events, at Spa and Mosport respecitvely.
Tony Brooks' childhood home is five mins walk from me. They've finally given it a blue plaque!
Could you make a video on all drivers killed in top disciplines (IndyCar, Le Mans/Sportscars, touring cars etc) next?
Having seen the video with the two marshals crossing the track, I can say the guy that was hit died instantly.
If anyone goes searching for it just remember that you are watching people die.
I always feel sort of divided when I research deadly crashes in motorsport. I always question myself if I'm doing it for the right reasons. I tend to agree with myself that watching them as a reminder of the dangers of motorsports or understanding how safety have improved is acceptable.
@@charamia9402
We need to look at the bad things in history so that we don't have to see it happen again.
When when Barichello (?) Had the spring knock him out people watched the accident over and over to understand what happened. It was. Because of that they made the small shield that's found on the visors today.
Sometimes it's a member of the public that invents something that saves lives because they've watched an accident. That someone could be you. 🙂👍
@@Slikx666 it was Filipe Massa who was hit by the spring which had come off Barichello’s car.
@@jeremypnet
At least I got Formula one correct. 🤪👍