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F1 looking to improve chassis safety following Hubert-Correa crash

F1 looking to improve chassis safety following Hubert-Correa crash

21-09-2019 12:38

Racing Point's technical director Andy Green has revealed that teams have been asked to do some research into making stronger chassis to help prevent similar results following the Formula 2 crash in Belgium last month that saw the death of Anthoine Hubert and terrible injuries to Juan Manuel Correa.

Hubert and Correa were involved in a huge impact at the top of Eau Rouge, with the Frenchman passing away from his injuries just over an hour later. 

Correa has now been taking out of his induced coma, but is still in a serious condition in hospital in London.

Green told Autosport: "The teams have been asked to do some analysis work on their chassis design to understand where the current regulations sit in terms of chassis strength. I'm sure there will be more discussion at the next TWG to look at the next steps.

"It was massive impact, that's the bottom line. The energy involved was absolutely huge, and the current chassis design, whether F2 or F1, there's no way a current chassis can survive that sort of impact.

"There was a massive amount of energy. So you've got to do a certain amount of absorbing in the nose.

"The nose worked as expected, but the energy it absorbed was a fraction of what was required, so we're looking at increasing that for future cars, and I'm sure increasing the strength in the sides of the chassis as well - steps in that direction."

Green adds that they are looking to add the improvement for 2021, but if something can be worked out quickly then it is not too late to implement it for next season.

He said: "It can definitely be factored in for '21 - all the teams, we don't argue about this sort of thing, we just get on and do it.

"At the moment in the back of everyone's mind is what we can do for 2020.

"It's never too late to add an additional panel to the side of the your chassis."