The debate over whether Formula One should switch to closed cockpits is not new, and it’s occasionally brought up after a (relevant) severe crash.
Last week’s Japanese GP, held at Suzuka, bore witness to a horrific crash involving Frenchman Jules Bianchi who hit the barriers at around 255 hm/h or 160 mph… He survived, but his chances of a full recovery are one in ten.
The crash cast a shadow over the (pouring wet) race and it was all the other drivers talked about once it was over – Hamilton didn’t celebrate the win, however it was another driver that brought up the issue of closed cockpits: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
According to Autosport, the Spaniard “thinks there is now no reason not to at least carry out further research,” or, in his own words “I probably tend to agree we should at least check and try or test the idea. We are in 2014, we have the technology, we have aeroplanes and many other examples used in a successful way, so why not to think about it?”
It was not only the recent crash in Japan that prompted Alonso’s reaction, given that he too suffered a horrific crash of his own, two years ago at Spa.
His point is that all the major crashes the discipline has witnessed in the last few years have resulted in head injuries, and having closed cockpits could make it much safer for everybody.
Alonso’s co-driver at Ferrari, Felipe Massa, who also went through a life-threatening crash back in 2009, in Hungary, is on board with the idea – “I totally agree with Fernando – it would be interesting to try to work on that possibility. Definitely for my accident, it would have been perfect. For Jules, I don’t know.”