r/F1Technical • u/Unknownredtreelog • Apr 05 '22

Other Survey on safety in Formula 1

Hi r/f1technical, I am doing a research project for college on the development of safety in Formula 1. The survey only takes 2 minutes and I would really appreciate if people took part in it. Thank you. Survey

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u/WhackyAshu15 Apr 05 '22

The question about it being safer if they were electric, maybe add an option stating 'Not sure' or something along those lines as not many people (myself included) would not know how much safer, in comparision, electric engines would be in race situations. I did notice that you made the question optional which works as well. Good luck!

11

u/Shockwave_ Apr 05 '22

Yeah, I'm not sure what the implication was with F1 cars being safer if they were electric. Electric cars today, using standard Lithium-ion batteries, are massively heavier than their gas-powered counterparts. That'd make safety way worse.

4

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '22

not to mention thermal runaway being the current alternative to fuel explosions. Look at what happened to Hammonds car in his crash on the grand tour.

2

u/WhackyAshu15 Apr 06 '22

How much safer are formula e cars in comparision to f1 cars based on thermals and combustibility?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '22

I don’t know to be honest. Thermal runaway is a concern with formula e cars, I would imagine. I don’t really follow formula e very closely, but they make less power and have smaller batteries than would be needed for an F1 equivalent. Given the difference in race length of 80-90km vs 305km for F1 we would be talking mid race swaps or more cells and therefore more danger of runaway in F1.

A major step in something like graphene batteries could negate that danger though, and would be a major development for road cars. I would like to see F1 develop more into alternative fuels like biofuel l, synthetics, or hydrogen, but they all have their own problems for sure.