Three-time Formula 1 world champion and Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda has warned the sport could risk “destroying itself” if the push for safety is taken too far.
After decades of improvements to the cars and circuits, many people have drawn the line since it was announced Halo cockpit protection would be introduced from 2018, the first step towards ending open-wheel racing as we know it.
Though some argue the outrage at the decision back in June is temporary and eventually, Halo will be as accepted on an F1 car as a front or rear wing, many including Lauda believes this changes the fundamental DNA and that some risk has to remain.
“Don’t continue trying to make Formula 1 completely safe because people will lose interest in the end,” the Austrian told Graham Bensinger in a YouTube interview.
“These Formula 1 drivers should be the best drivers in the world, this is what people aim for. People do sometimes like to see accidents to see where the limits are, but as long they’re able to get out safe, I think this is what we have to achieve. If you go too far, I think F1 destroys itself.”
What makes Lauda’s position on the matter more powerful is his own history. This was a man who cheated death in 1976 after a devastating crash on the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany, a crash that has left him scarred ever since.
Yet he sees the advances made in the decades since and acknowledges the sport of today would have been unimaginable during his 13-year career.
“The drivers of today, they come with their wife and kids, with the dog, and watch the race because there is no more danger,” he added. “We were always alone, we didn’t want our wife to come to the race and bring us home in a coffin.
“This was a different era and thank god F1 got much safer that this problem is reduced to nothing and I think it’s good for the sport.”
Certainly, Niki would have been much happier if he had raced in 21st Century F1: “I would not have burned my ear, I would not have damaged myself at all and I would have 50 times more money. I would prefer to race today if I had the option, but I don’t have the option.”
