By Isabella Priestley
Ayrton Senna tragically lost his life after a 141-mph crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. The car lost grip, which led the legend to hitting an unprotected concrete wall at the Tamburello Corner. Since that day 32 years ago, the safety of Formula 1 and motorsport has changed massively.
Straight after the accident in 1994, the FIA identified 27 high-risk corners that could be altered to be safer. They managed to reduce it to 15 almost straight away, while they ensured the barriers of every turn be checked for faults. In terms of the corners, the number was reduced to 2 in 1996.
1997 was the year the safety car was made more powerful, with its next big change coming in 2015: the introduction of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). This followed the fatal crash of Jules Bianchi in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The aim of the VSC is to set a minimum time allowed for each lap, which forces the drivers to slow down. It is used instead of a physical car, often for a case of debris on the track.
Another crucial year was 1998, where roll hoops were introduced. Roll hoops can be found directly behind a driver’s head, protecting their head from hitting the ground should the car roll over. This was strengthened rather recently, throughout 2023 and 2024, following Zhou Guanyu’s crash at the 2022 British Grand Prix. The FIA made sure to create a tyre test specification for each race, as well new extrication measures. This ensures that drivers can exit the car within 10 seconds, should there be an accident. These became crucial changes made for the sport, saving drivers such as Romain Grosjean, who suffered a huge crash in Bahrain.
In the early 2000s, the Head and Neck Support (HANS) was introduced to limit head movement to prevent severe injuries. This was made compulsory for the majority of FIA sanctioned series in 2007. Shortly after, the FIA strengthened the shell of the helmet to increase protection below the top edge of the visor opening. This was a response to Felipe Massa’s head injury in 2009.
One of the most well-known changes came in 2018, another feature added after Bianchi’s 2014 crash: the Halo. The Halo is a piece of Grade 5-titanium that sits on the car, just above the drivers’ heads. This was implemented to protect drivers from flying debris and to ensure crash survivability. This has been one of the most significant changes made by the FIA and it has saved plenty of lives since its introduction, one of the more notable examples being after Max Verstappen’s Red Bull mounted the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The Halo has been made mandatory in all single seater championships brought by the FIA, and it has, quite literally, been a life saver.
There have been a handful of other changes since then, such as the new protective helmets in 2019 and the protective clothing standard in 2020. While considered to be smaller changes, they have had an impact in the most unlikely places, which shows just how far the safety of Formula 1 has come since Senna’s fatal crash. The last major changes were the strengthening of the roll hoops in 2023 and 2024, following Zhou Guanyu’s Silverstone crash, which have proven to be a beneficial change.
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