FIA reveals updates to improve Formula E driver safety
The FIA has been working on the development of a steering damper to prevent hand injuries in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Accidents, such as those sustained by Envision Racing‘s Robin Frijns and NEOM McLaren‘s Sam Bird, triggered the FIA to investigate what was to blame.
The process of engineering a solution involved a painstaking procedure from testing and simulation to final validation. The investigation found that the front-end shunts caused the steering wheel to rotate up to 10 times faster than usual. This discovery prompted a suite of solutions, from modifying the steering wheel’s shape to adding foam inside the cockpit and redesigning the front wing to better protect the car’s front wheels.
The most significant adaptation, however, was a new steering damper. The damper absorbs the energy of the impact and reduces the peak rotational speed in such situations by as much as 40%. There have been no repeat injuries since its introduction.
FIA safety director Nuno Costa, FIA chief technical and safety officer Xavier Mestelan Pinon and ABB FIA Formula E World Championship medical delegate Bruno Franceschini played key roles in the development
“Basically, I broke my hand inside the cockpit because I wasn’t expecting the steering wheel to suddenly come out of my hands,” said Frijns. “Unfortunately, I had quite some damage because I broke the bone in three places.
“My injury was quite bad, but the FIA is pushing hard to make it safer for us and they’ve made big steps from that moment onward. I think the steering damper is a very good tool. If you have a crash, the damper takes all the force away from the wheel so it doesn’t really move out of your hands anymore.”
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