F1 Fanatic

I’ve started following F1 in 1998, so I’ve never seen any driver die on the track (but I remember quite clearly when the marshalls were killed at Monza 2000 and Melbourne 2001). The only other death I recall was in Brazilian Stock Car Light, when Rafael Sperafico was pushed off the track at Interlagos, on the kink before the pits entrance. He bounced off the tyre wall onto track, and Renato Russo hit him directly from the left (where he was seated). I didn’t watch it live though, because I really don’t like Brazilian Stock Car racing.

The most shocking moment for me to date was Kubica’s crash at Montreal. As a fan of him, I was quite shocked and I thought he was dead when the car halted, because the way his arm was hanging out of the cockpit, moveless, was quite scary. Massa accident was particularly tense, as Henry Surtees had died just a week earlier after being hit on the head by a loose wheel. The way he crashed, pressing both throttle and brake pedals… I couldn’t help but to fear for the worst.

was at zolder in 1982, enough said, pretty grim

Fortunately never seen an F1 fatality – I was born exactly two weeks after Senna died and wasn’t watching the races when the two marshalls died. I wasn’t watching when Massa had his accident, either, because I was on holiday and nowhere near a television so I had to make-do with watching it on iPlayer, after which I knew he would still be alive. The closest I’ve ever come to seeing an F1 fatality live were Kovalainen at Spain 2008, and Webber at Valencia this season. I remember I was watching the Spanish Grand Prix on my own and my dad was in the next room, and we both heard Brundle say Kovalainen had crashed heavily and we just looked at each other in shock – I honestly thought he was dead for a few moments. When they finally got him out, he still didn’t look too well and I was honestly worried. The only proper crash I’ve ever seen (right) in front of me was at the Becketts complex at Silverstone where my dad and I were watching some little Fiat 500s – one went off, dug in on the wet grass and seemed to roll forever, I’ll never forget that horrible scraping noise on the tarmac. Horrible. Luckily, everbody avoided him and with the speed he got out, I knew he was okay. It was still pretty shocking though.

Ive been watching F1 as long as i can remember and the first memory of it i do have is of Senna’s death. My parents always used to watch F1 and i remember that day not of the TV images but my parents being anxious and upset and later telling me someone had died. But ’94 was a great (albeit sad) year with my Mum supporting Hill and Dad Schumacher, ive been watching ever since.
Thankfully deaths in the sport are very rare these days. I thought Kovalinen had died in Spain 2008 seeing Ron Dennis unusually emotional. It made me cold and sick to my stomach with dread but i couldnt take my eyes away.

I started watching F1 a long time ago and the first incident I remember seeing (on TV) was the accident involving Ronnie Peterson (my hero of the time) at Monza 1978.

The starter got it badly wrong and waved them off before the back of the grid had come to a halt. Consequently the pack funnelled up together, one thing led to another and Peterson’s car crashed and burst into flames.

Medical support was shockingly bad in those days and it was left to his fellow drivers, notably James Hunt, to pull him from the wreck, put the fire out and try to care for him for 20 minutes until medical help arrived. He was taken to hospital but died as a result of complications from his injuries.

1982 was a shocking year with two horrendous accidents… Giles Villeneuve in qualifying being thrown from his disintigrating car… and Paletti dying after ploughing into the back of Pironi’s stationary car at the start. I was at Uni at the time and wasn’t able to watch the races on TV so didn’t see those incidents but they are on Youtube and they are dreadful to watch.

Going back further, the most shocking incident of all that I read about and have watched on youtube was the incident involving Roger Williamson in 1973.

He crashed but was uninjured. However he was trapped in the car which burst into flames. His fellow driver Dave Purley stopped to help him and desperately tried to flag down other help, get marshalls to help, used the only (inadequate) fire extinguisher in the area to put the flames out, etc… meanwhile the race continued with only a yellow flag. Dave Purley got more and more distraught as he realized that his friend, uninjured but trapped, was burning to death.

It took 8 minutes for a fire truck to arrive and put the fire out, by which time Roger Williamson was dead. They threw a blanket over the car and the dead driver and the race carried on.

Dave Purley was awarded the George Medal for his bravery in trying to help his fellow driver.

If you watch that on youtube search for “Roger Williamson 1973″ but be prepared to be shocked by what you see.

@Mark Just watched that, very moving. Hulme said that he had thought that it was Purley who had crashed and had gotten out safely, hence he hadn’t stopped. And maybe the marshalls didn’t help because they would get burned otherwise?

Just trying to find any good reasons why noone but Purley helped Williamson.

And, here are the videos of

Tomizawa’s crash: http://www.streetfire.net/video/2010-moto2-imola-shoya-tomizawa-fatal-crash_2056463.htm

and Surtees’ crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1zqL86w0Gk

I strangely forgot Tomizawa’s death, it was a total shock. The accident was terrible, but still i had some sort of confidence he could still be alive. Unfortunately, that was a kind of accident that can’t be prevented in the future. Maybe they’ll make riders’ overalls stronger, but nothing more.

I hadn’t ever seen Tom Pryce and marshall’s appalling deaths at Kyalami, it makes you understand how much amateurish safety measures were in the 70s.

@mark, your post bring back alot of sad memories, loved both ronnie petren and roger williamson
everyone else, check out “the lost generation”, its a book about tony brise, roger williamson and tom pryce, a grat but poignant read

sblot