After an internal investigation, it was concluded that Fernando Alonso’s helmet made contact with the inside part of the headrest twice during his brutal accident in Australia earlier this year.
This marks the first time that the FIA has released data from high-speed cameras in conjunction with its accident data recorder and in-ear accelerometer tools. The two times the helmet made contact with the left inside part of the headrest also happen to correspond to the two peaks seen on the ear accelerometer data.
Laurent Mekies, GM of research for the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety stated that while a “significant step” had been made, there’s still plenty of room for improvement in terms of crash data analysis:
“It’s an exercise that never stops, but it is certainly a very significant step. The next step is biometrics – gathering data from drivers such as heart rate, body heat and even sweat levels. I hope that we will be able to put something on a driver before the end of the season, at least in a test. Biometric data will help us to assess the driver’s conditions before, at the time of the crash and after the crash, as far as the rescue operations are concerned.”
There are also plans to have more cameras on cars that point directly at the drivers – working together with the biometric data tools. As reported by Eurosport, these cameras could be positioned on the halo cockpit protection system that the FIA is introducing next year, though nothing has been set in stone yet.
“You could imagine a million things tomorrow – you could imagine us trying to estimate the loads on the actual upper body of the drivers through the safety belts, for instance. It is something that will never stop as much as safety research will never stop and we will continue to push the boundaries to gain a deeper understanding,” concluded Mekies.