FIA ignored drivers safety concerns at the Miami GP

Since 2017, Formula 1 has been asking circuits to use a new sort of safety barrier to prevent drivers from getting seriously hurt during races. Tecpro is the name of the barrier and it prevents drivers from getting seriously injured at very high speeds.

This barrier is basically 2 sponges one much softer than the other. These are arranged in various ways to best absorb impacts at different speeds. The Barriers absorb the energy of the car when it slams into them and prevents the driver from sustaining serious injuries.

Tecpro barrier is the best option for the high-angle impacts we are likely to see at Turns 22 and 23, they provide good deceleration over a relatively large distance.#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/qYeQz6oydM

— Bryson Sullivan 🇺🇲 (@NaturalParadigm) December 3, 2021

A scary sight in Miami

However in Miami, we saw a scary sight, At turn 13, there wasn’t a spongy tech pro barrier, but a rock-solid concrete wall. this caused relatively slow-speed crashes by Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz into turn 13 measured up to 51 G upon impact.

Almost mirror incidents for Sainz and Ocon! 🤯🪞

Keep an eye on Turn 14, it’s certainly proving to be a precarious one 😅#MiamiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/smymjcJMEJ

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 7, 2022

That’s the same force that Max Verstappen felt in Silverstone when he slammed into the soft barriers at 260 KM/H

Max Verstappen crash at Silverstone#TheSupercarSquad pic.twitter.com/cICwVGUvuk

— The Supercar Squad (@thesupercar_sqd) July 29, 2021

FIA turns a blind eye

Ferrari Driver Carlos Sainz said “I’m sorry to be critical but I told the FIA yesterday that my crash in second gear shouldn’t feel that hard, but today my neck was a bit in pain, I told them ‘Let’s put Tecpro there’ because it’s a very hard concrete wall.”

French Driver Esteban Ocon added, “What is unacceptable really, it was 51G for what should have been not such a big impact, To not have it and [for only] one car it has happened, but when Carlos has complained to the race director, we were all there listening to it, and nothing has been done. There was a discussion last night. Carlos said the impact was way too big for what it should have been. Saturday, it felt huge, the impact. It’s probably the biggest shunt of my career, to be fair.

Sainz said he had brought the matter up in Friday’s drivers’ briefing. However, for the race on Sunday, they didn’t change the barriers, prompting fans online to take digs at the FIA by saying that they were too busy checking drivers’ underwear and jewelry.

So @fia on safety:
1. Jewelry and non-fireproof Underwear Extremely unsafe and threaten the drivers for a potential ban.
2. Lack of Tecpro barriers after drivers crash at the same spot and complain is safe. @F1 @wtf1official

— Jill Patel (@jillpatel65) May 9, 2022

According to Reuters, A spokesman for the governing FIA said the drivers’ concerns had been taken on board and officials inspected the area of impact but decided no changes were necessary from a safety perspective.

“There was damage to the cars but that’s not why we put in Tecpro,” he added