Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has spoken of the gladiatorial nature of racing drivers in the face of dangers which have been highlighted in recent weeks.
Since Spa, the sport has mourned the loss of Formula 2 racer Anthoine Hubert who was killed in a high-speed collision with Juan Manuel Correa, who remains critical but stable in a London hospital.
On Tuesday, Hubert was laid to rest in France, but on the day of his crash, F1 champion Lewis Hamilton posted a message to fans stating that they did not fully appreciate the danger drivers face on track.
“It’s very difficult to relate to what is happening in a car if you have never driven a race car at these speeds,” Wolff said, adding his view on the matter.
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“Whether it’s in the junior formulas, all the way to Formula 1, in GT cars or prototypes, it’s still a gladiators sport, it’s still about courage, ability, risk-taking but through a camera lens, you will never realise what it feels like.
“We were fortunate for many years to not have had these kinds of accidents and maybe forgotten how dangerous the sport is, I think this is what Lewis wanted to express.
“I can totally relate to it if you drive towards Eau Rouge with 260/270kph which looks like a 90-degree corner and you take it flat it’s beyond understanding that these guys do what they do, and it can end fatally like it did at Spa.”
Only a week later at Monza, Alex Peroni was lucky to survive with only a broken vertebra after another massive crash in F3, having taken off over a kerb in the Parabolica and landed in the catch-fencing mere feet from a marshals post.
Just hours before, Sebastian Vettel admitted he would much rather see less action on the track if it meant no more fatalities.
“I think we all had our moment on Saturday and obviously Sunday, going to the race track and driving the race but to some extent, it’s part of motorsport. It is dangerous, it’s part of the thrill,” he said.
“But certainly obviously the last years have been a wake-up with the passing of Jules (Bianchi) and now Anthoine.
“It shows there are still things, even if people think it’s too safe and boring, we can do better and we must improve and we must work on because I’d rather have boring Formula 1 championships to the end of ever and bring him back.”
