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Ex-F1 Driver Mika Salo Says Closed Cockpits in F1 Are ‘Ridiculous’

After the recent incident at the Belgian F1 Grand Prix, held at Spa Francochamps, safety suggestions have arisen, in order to try to prevent such incidents in the future, or at least lessen the damage they do when they do occur. Aside from giving up standing starts, it has been suggested that F1 cars would be better off with a closed cockpit.
Closed Cockpit F1 Car 1 photo
Photo: Daniele Sanfilippo
Apparently, some sort of roll-hoop or canopy will, in fact, make its way into the 2014 F1 rule book. However, former F1 driver from Finland and now sports commentator for a Finnish broadcasting network, Mika Salo, strongly disagrees with the proposed changes. He went on to say: "I think the idea of a closed cockpit is ridiculous for formula one [. . .] Actually, it would no longer be formula one, it would be (sports car) prototypes [. . .] In my view it’s not a good idea to panic after an accident, especially when nothing happened (in terms of serious injuries)."

Formula 1 cars have always had an open cockpit and it is, genuinely, part of the charm of it all. However, when safety and people’s lives are at stake, especially at the kinds of speeds reached nowadays, perhaps a mid-way solution could be found to make the cars safer, while retaining the ‘traditional look and feel’.

Story via motorsport.nextgen-auto.com
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