8 Big Modern Formula 1 Crashes

5. Robert Kubica €“ Canada 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtrzvwayniM Following a safety car period at one of Formula 1€™s best circuits, Kubica had a horrendous crash on the restart. Whilst trying to overtake round the outside of the kink into the hairpin, his front wing made contact with the rear right wheel of Jarno Trulli€™s Toyota, breaking it and destroying his downforce. He immediately understeered off the track and was launched into the air by a kerb, tearing off his front wheel on the end of a concrete wall, just missing a parked Torro Rosso and then hitting another concrete barrier almost head off, before tumbling down towards their hairpin and coming to rest in the barriers, bringing out the safety car again immediately. The car was absolutely destroyed, to the point where his feet were hanging out of the nose. Kubica miraculously only suffered a concussion and a sprained ankle in the biggest Formula 1 crash in recent memory, demonstrating how strong modern F1 cars are now and the advances in safety, as arguably that same accident just a few years earlier would have left him severely injured. Implications Whilst this accident seemed like it would have no particular implications on the championship or sport in general, it had a rather profound one. Due to his concussion, Kubica was unable to participate in the US Grand Prix a week later at Indianapolis. Because of this, BMW Sauber used their junior driver, Sebastian Vettel, giving him his first race start in Formula 1. He went on to finish in the points, becoming the youngest ever points scoring driver in Formula 1, aged just 19. It also demonstrated, yet again, that solid concrete barriers have no place being on the outside of high-speed corners at Formula 1 circuits.
In this post: 
F1
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Self-confessed Geek; Aerospace Engineer with a passion for Formula 1, Engineering, Science and Cinema.