Formula 1 2020 - Top five biggest accidents

Formula 1

Formula 1 2020 - Top five biggest accidents

The safety developments made by F1 were demonstrated on numerous occasions

Ewan Gale

Friday 25 December 2020 17:00

Motorsport is and always will be - at least to some extent - a dangerous sport and with Formula 1 being its pinnacle, the push for safety is never-ending.

Such strides in driver protection have been on show this year, with a number of high-speed crashes in the fastest cars in championship history.

Incredibly, of the following list, only one driver was left with injuries despite the nature of the accidents.

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We must naturally pay tribute to the devotion the FIA and teams have given to safety innovations and, this year, in particular, the halo device. Without such cutting-edge technology, we could not enjoy the sport we love.

Here are our picks for the five most shocking accidents of 2020.

5. Lance Stroll - Tuscan Grand Prix

Stroll was looking a strong contender for a podium at Mugello as he hunted down Daniel Ricciardo for third. However, a failure at the rear of his Racing Point sent the Canadian spearing off at the high-speed Arrabiatta corner.

His car smouldered after impact, rendering the updates brought by the team to the race useless moving forward. Stroll was lucky the impact was side-on, allowing for a larger spread of energy dissipation across the chassis given the accident happened at the fastest corner on the track.

The team later revealed the crash had knocked Stroll's confidence to such an extent it impacted him in the following races as he went on a barren run of results, which is why this gets the nod ahead of the Antonio Giovinazzi/George Russell incident in the Belgian GP.

4. Charles Leclerc - Italian Grand Prix

Leclerc was in fine form at Monza and in a good position in the race. He had made his way up to fourth in a Ferrari that, on paper, was not suited to the Temple of Speed.

With Lewis Hamilton's impending penalty for pitting whilst the pit-lane was closed, a podium may well have been waiting for him. However, shortly after the safety car restart which caused Hamilton his grief, Leclerc went sliding off the road at the Parabolica, ferociously hitting the barriers at the final corner.

Such was the force of the impact, the front-left wheel was ripped from the chassis as the car lodged itself underneath the belt of the barrier. Leclerc himself remarked over team radio: "That was a big crash."

3. Daniil Kvyat - British Grand Prix

Kvyat's accident - like Stroll's in Mugello - came as a consequence of a failure at the rear of the car. Unfortunately for him, his crash scene was the concrete wall on the left-hand side of the Maggotts and Becketts complex at Silverstone.

After spinning around, the AlphaTauri made contact with the front-left corner against the barrier, leaving the car with all four wheels hanging on by their tethers only.

It was a scary moment as there was nothing Kvyat could do. He was rendered a passenger as the car careered off-road at one of the most breathtaking corners on the calendar. In years gone by, it is highly unlikely the Russian would have exited the cockpit without injury.

2. Safety car restart - Tuscan Grand Prix

The first lap accident involving six cars was big enough to bring out the safety car. What none of us wanted to see was the melée at the restart of the race on lap seven where Kevin Magnussen, Carlos Sainz, Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovinazzi were all caught up as cars accelerated at the back of the pack.

Because the leaders had not yet accelerated themselves to restart the race, it meant there was a considerable speed differential along the start/finish straight, resulting in a pile-up which - for Giovinazzi - meant a sandwich and two-wheel experience he will not wish to replicate.

Red flags were needed to clean up the mass of debris on the pit-straight, whilst only 13 cars were left in the race.

1. Romain Grosjean - Bahrain Grand Prix

Thank goodness Grosjean walked away from what was left of his Haas in Bahrain.

This is the type of incident where the true might of the FIA's constant innovation in the field of safety hits home as without the upgraded fireproof race overalls, the halo, the HANS device and the efforts of Dr Ian Roberts and Alan van der Merwe, as well as the circuit marshals, then the Frenchman's fate could have been much more severe.

After colliding with Kvyat out of turn three, Grosjean speared the retaining barrier, ripping his car in two whilst the survival cell burst into flames.

The miracle of the season, perhaps even this century so far. A stark reminder of the superhuman nature of the drivers we admire and the perils they put themselves under every time they take to the track.