The teams offer only token efforts to safety

[KC]

Once again we have seen how the teams circumvent or blithely ignore rules and specifications designed to protect drivers, fans and corner workers. The contact late in the German Grand Prix saw no less than three tires and front suspension assemblies bouncing down the track like lethal gumballs. Jean Alesi lost two of his tires after a vicious hit on the tire barriers after being struck from behind by another competitor. The contact resulted in the front tire of the offending car shearing off and soaring off down the racing line putting the following drivers and corner workers in avoidable danger. This should not have happened. CART, the IRL, and NASCAR all mandate wheel assembly tethers in the same way as F1. Kenny Brack struck the wall at Michigan at over 225 mph and kept all of his wheels with the car. Alex Tagliani struck the wall after a spin at Michigan much faster than Alesi was going when he hit and all of his tires remained attached to the car. Why cannot F1, with their much ballyhooed and vaunted levels of technical expertise and billion dollar budgets accomplish the same thing as race teams with less than 1/10th the budget and engineering resources? Because the teams are allowed to only offer a token effort to appease rules makers by the FIA. There is no other reason. Surely there will be extraneous circumstances that will see CART or NASCAR machines lose their tires in a wreck, but the F1 cars lose theirs every time. Will if take the death of a corner worker or a group of fans in a crowded grandstand before the FIA enforces the very rules that they impose?

[Ralf's Girl]

That's am excellent point. The FIA did introduce wheel tethers, but they are obviously nowhere near strong enough to withstand some of the impacts that an F1 car suffers. I believe that the plan for 2001 is to make them stronger.

[enzo]

Unfortunately, another death is exactly what it will take. It took deaths in both CART & IRL before they did anything there also.