there will Still be those who think that Formula 1 is no more than a machinery of marketing, advertising, and a waste of money fed by us, the viewers. But there are also those who think that it makes no sense to invest in space stations, trips to the Moon and to Mars or to send probes to the outer reaches of the solar system, when there is still hunger in the world. But on days like today it is clear that Formula 1 is not just an exercise of entertainment, loved by some, and misunderstood by many. Fernando Alonso has not only saved his life, or as the Spaniard has recognized, has spent one of the lives that he had (see the chronicle of the Australian Grand Prix 2016 in motor Competition). Fernando Alonso has saved us all.
And is why even in the terrible misfortune of a pilot who died, Jules Bianchi, Ayrton Senna, Ratzenberg, of Mary, and so many others who gave their life in Formula 1, there’s still an upbeat message. Fernando Alonso owes his life to all of them. We also.
The progress is not another thing that to see a pilot crashing to 310 km/h, and talk quietly with the journalists a few minutes later. Progress is not another thing that to know that every car you see on the street hides, to a certain extent, a Formula 1 in its interior.
Alonso owes his life to a single-seater able to disintegrate, and at the same time to keep intact the safety cell in which he was housed, as well as we should give thanks because our car will deform with any impact that we may suffer (see article: The wrinkle is beautiful, the importance of controlled deformation in a car). Alonso must say thank you to Senna for having left his life at Imola, because, thanks to him, a pilot can come out unscathed from a terrible accident with multiple rollovers, as that suffered by Fernando this weekend, or the one suffered by Robert Kubica in Canada in 2007.
Fernando also must give thanks to the 10 inches of thickness of the protections of the passenger compartment and at the speed of 50 km/h, which must withstand an impact with a car, as well as our cars are crashing on purpose to get a rating in stars, officially approved by EuroNCAP. Fernando, viewers, and commissioners, should give thanks to Graham Beveridge, even though no one remember his name, he left his life in the Australian Grand Prix of 2001. Thanks to him we have not seen wheels flying against the stands.
Fernando also has to give thanks to a column which rises up 7 inches above his head, able to withstand a weight of 2.4 tonnes without deformation, as well as our cars are able to dump without crush us inside.
technology transfer, in both directions, between the industry of the car, on the street, and the competition, saves lives on a daily basis, in accidents that you will not see opening news. Maybe that’s why we should also see racing through the eyes of others, not only as an entertainment, as a sport, and engineering. And that is why today, more than ever, not just tell you that Fernando Alonso has saved his life thanks to the FIA and many others who left theirs in more than a century of competition, because those are the ones that at some point in time, we have also saved the life, or you will save.
In motor: