Formula One is a universe in itself. It lives its life during each race day, right from the start of the race till the end. Millions of people follow this sport, which in turn helps the teams as well as their sponsors earn a lot of money as well as popularity. Formula One cars are the most advanced cars on the planet. In simple words, Formula One is like an extravagant event in which every moment counts.
This sport gives us an extraordinary experience as we see highly talented drivers race against each other for the chequered flag. In spite of ever-increasing speed of the cars, it is a highly safeguarded sport. In the last 30 years, Formula One has become a lot faster and safer. This is due to the advancement in automobile engineering.
Beginning
Right from the time when cars were first manufactured, racing has been in existence. As time passed by and science and technology evolved, and more and more cars started to exist, European cars started racing as a means to show their superiority and also to gain popularity among people.
During the world war time, a number of Grand Prix were held in Europe, for these events cars were designed to show the manufacturer’s better design along with better skills of the drivers. But due to World War 2, Formula One was put on hold for a few years.
Importance of drivers
After the start of Formula One again after the World War 2, the first Grand Prix was held in the year 1950 at Silverstone in the UK. In that year, only a few races were considered for the World Championship.
Popularity
In the year 1971, Bernie Ecclestone took control of Formula One. From then onwards this sport started to gain enormous popularity and even the involvement of more people along with new teams also increased in this sport.
Dominance
Right from the year 1950, there has always been some team which has dominated this sport for a considerable amount of time. Like in the early 1960s the British dominated, then Ferrari dominated in the mid-1970s, then again in later years of 1990s, and beginning years of 2000s, Ferrari again dominated the game and afterwards Mercedes and Williams started to perform well and are still playing a major role in this sport.
Advancement in technology
Technology in cars involved in Formula One, has evolved a lot now mainly because of the constant efforts from each team to achieve success.
The two most important development which has taken place in Formula One are placement of engines in cars and the materials used for the construction of chassis. In 1958, Argentine Grand Prix was the first in which a team had put the engine behind the driver’s seat. Stirling Moss won that Grand Prix in this particular car which later on set the standards for others to follow. Then again in 1965, during the Mexican Grand Prix a Japanese team used a transverse engine and did won the race. But this design was not used by others afterwards. During this Grand Prix, another development which was made was the use of 1.5 litre engine for the last time. After this Grand Prix, 3.0 litre engines were used which also increased the speed of the cars to more than 200 mph. Now cars constantly do more than 200 mph in races.
Secondly, regarding the material used for the chassis manufacturing, in 1962 aluminium sheet monocoque design was introduced with the help of which tension and compression is distributed across the surface of the frame of the car. This helped to make the car even lighter and increased its speed. McLaren then introduced the carbon fibre chassis in 1981, which brought another revolution in high performance cars.
Safety
There have been a lot of questions in previous years regarding the safety in this sport. It has been due to the loss of lives in the past, mainly because of poor safety measures that also resulted in a series of continuous efforts from the likes of Sir Jackie Stewart (three times world champion) and many more to pressurise teams and even the governing body to introduce new standards for safety of the drivers.
Now we can see mobile response teams, rescue cars and extrication teams all just for the unfortunate incident. After an accident, the first resort for a driver will be circuit’s medical centre, which has the best medical equipment and an operation theatre having an orthopaedic surgeon, an anaesthetic and six paramedics, all the time. Along with all this the local hospital is also given the responsibility of providing the services if required. A medical evacuation helicopter with a doctor and two paramedics is always ready to take off if need arises. With this a second helicopter and four ambulances are always waiting near the race track.
Since the start of the races, there has been a gradual increase in performance which has also brought along a rise in number of deaths also. But with the advancement in technologies and with the introduction of new stronger and strict rules the number of fatalities has reduced. Now cars are safer and the race tracks are also better equipped in terms of safety precautions. For example, in the 1960s, more attention was given to protection against dangers arising from fire in case of an accident. For this, fireproof suit was made mandatory for drivers along with protection of cars from fire and, safer gas tanks and better seat belts were also introduced.
In 1994, some aggressive steps were also taken in terms of removing some of the technologies like traction control, automatic gear and anti-lock brakes. This was done in order to engage the drivers more with the sport. This also ensured their full attention in terms of driving. So first of all, seat belts as mentioned above, then spectator safety, then safety bladders, after that survival cell for drivers, and many more improvements ensured that Formula One never lost its shine.
Even recently because of all this development and advancements Romain Grosjean did survive a scary crash while racing for the HAAS racing team in his number 8 car. During the crash, the car did split into two which caused a huge explosion but newer technologies did help in saving a life.
Right from Giuseppe Farina till the latest Grand Prix winner Sergio Perez, there have been many champion racers. Some even vanished and some became so popular that they have become a household name in the field of racing nowadays. But one thing which we should not forget is that it is one of the most exciting sports in the human history. Yes, it is a fact that most of the sports have now changed into a money game including Formula One. In spite of that, this sport always continues to mesmerize us with some spectacular performances and also tries to gives us a lesson that no matter what happens in life, we should never give up because
“In sport there is never any moment that is same as the other.” —— Michael Schumacher
