Respect is Due

To all F1 drivers, mechanics and marshals. F1 is a very dangerous business, I've just been reminded just how dangerous by watching a video on youtube.com called 'F1 Perished Heroes' that documents the deaths in F1 over the last few decades.

The most graphic image on there is Tom Pryce in 1977 at South Africa, I had heard about this crash, but had never seen it, now I know why. The most harrowing image? For me the sight of Roland Ratzenburger in 1994 at Imola, when the car crashes it's plain to see that he is unconscious, which is bad enough, but then after they remove him from the car and start performing CPR on the side of the track is overpowering. I'd never seen it before as the UK didn't show practice or qualifying in those days, but I remember Murray Walker saying before the race that the law of averages had meant that we were overdue at that time for a death in F1 - of course we all know what happened that fatefull day.

Murray's comments strike a chord today, as we haven't seen a death in F1 since Jacques Villenueve's wheel came off when he hit a wall in Australia and struck a marshal, who sadly passed on.

I think that as the cars get safer and we see drivers walk away from big crashes, we tend to forget just how dangerous F1 really is.

I will not be providing a link to the video as I don't think it's something that should be thrown about lightly.