‘Some people will not like the halo but they said the same for seatbelts’
Sir Jackie Stewart applauds drivers’ new safety shield Triple champion says win for Ferrari can revitalise F1
When you are a triple world champion like Sir Jackie Stewart, you have earned your right to comment on the recent changes to Formula One and most would do well to listen. With the FIA deciding that the halo shield will be compulsory for the 2018 season, it is an addition that everyone will have to accept for the time being. Whether they like how it looks, or not.
Sir Jackie drove at a time when there was a two-in-three chance of dying due to injuries caused by a crash, so he knows intimately the risks involved, with 14 and 12 deaths in Formula One in the 1960s and 1970s respectively. As time has passed, the risk of fatalities has decreased and there were none for 21 years until the death of Jules Bianchi in 2015.
He knows from experience the importance of being proactive when it comes to safety. It was after his own accident that he started the fight for better safety measures, and he sees the halo as the next logical step.
He said: “Preventive medicine is better than corrective medicine. But the key thing with the halo is that in the case that a driver is trapped or unconscious, the halo doesn’t prevent easy removal. It is imperative that it doesn’t prevent the driver exiting the cockpit or people getting to them if they are unconscious.
“It’s not a matter of waiting for the fatalities. In this particular situation, the FIA is doing exactly the right thing to put it in. Some people will not like it but they said the same with seatbelts.
“For me, there is living and dying proof that when you have a collision with a concrete wall, the wheel is the first thing to fly off. Even with mechanical changes it still happens. A wheel could bounce for a kilometre at any height and hit the crowd.
“That’s why race tracks now have debris fences and no one liked those to begin with. The halo will come in and it will be accommodated.”
The emotion the Scot feels regarding the danger in the sport that made his name is visible when he talks about his great friend Jim Clark.
“I was hanging out with Clark a lot because he was a fellow Scot and he was like God as far as I was concerned. He was the best driver I’ve ever raced against, along with maybe Juan Manuel Fangio,” he said.
Despite the changes time has brought to the sport, it has not diminished the former trap shooter’s passion and he admits that a nonMercedes win this season may be exactly what is needed to ensure the revitalisation continues.
“I think for the sport, Ferrari winning the title would be the best lift at the best time. That four years of Red Bull [and then Mercedes] has negatively affected the attendances and viewing figures.”
As for Silverstone, he said: “We have more people coming to Silverstone over the three days than any other circuit. F1 racing employs thousands of people in an industry where the UK is the capital of the world.
“If we lost the British Grand Prix, economically it would be a disaster. The bottom line is that we can’t afford to lose it.”
‘Preventive medicine is better than corrective. The FIA is doing the right thing’
The Great British Racing Drivers Season starts today at 9pm on the Yesterday channel