The former FIA president Max Mosley believes the crash Fernando Alonso suffered in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix would have killed the driver had it happened 20 years ago.
Alonso’s McLaren clipped the Haas car driven by Esteban Gutiérrez while travelling at close to 200mph, crashed into a trackside wall at Albert Park and barrel-rolled twice before Alonso crawled out of the wreckage.
Mosley’s time as head of motor sport’s governing body saw a push for increased safety measures, with the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 helping to inspire that movement.
Frenchman Jules Bianchi also died from accidents suffered in a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix but this time around,
Mosley could afford to refer to Alonso’s crash as “impressive” as he paid tribute to the efforts of his former FIA chief medical officer Sid Watkins.
“You wouldn’t know for sure without a detailed analysis but generally speaking those sorts of accidents resulted in serious injury or death,” said Mosely.
photo credit: Mike Clarke
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“Happily that seems to have stopped. There are still freak accidents, like Jules, but those sort of serious racing accidents, you do expect the driver to walk away. That wouldn’t have been the case 20 years ago. This was thanks to Sid Watkins and a team of really competent people and the teams themselves. It needed to be looked at scientifically and that was the big change after Ayrton Senna’s death at Imola in 1994.”
“It’s very satisfying to see Alonso walk away. You work hard and it’s very satisfying when you see the results. It was quite an impressive crash.”
Paul Ayorinde
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