Super Formula: The massive crash at 130R raises questions about the safety of the Suzuka circuit
The final round of the Super Formula season, where AlphaTauri's reserve driver, Liam Lawson, is vying for the title, gave us some nail-biting moments this Saturday at Suzuka.
Daniel Ricciardo’s replacement for several races this season while the Australian driver was injured, Liam Lawson, is contending for the title this weekend in two races in the Super Formula, a single-seater category held in Japan.
During this past weekend, taking place at the Suzuka circuit, the Saturday race sent shivers down our spines with a huge accident.
Hiroki Otsu and Ukyo Sasahara arrived side by side at 130R. After making contact, they went straight into the gravel trap, and Sasahara’s race car violently crashed into the tire wall. Split in two, the survival cell went through the safety fence and landed on the opposite side, at the Degner corner.
If both drivers emerged unharmed, at least with a concussion, this accident is not without recalling the last major crash that resulted in the death of Jules Bianchi under rather different circumstances.
The Suzuka circuit has the particularity of being in a figure-eight shape, where a portion of the track intersects at certain points with a difference in elevation between the two sides. In terms of safety, a wire fence is intended to keep the cars on the crash side, but the fence did not withstand properly and allowed a portion of the car to pass through to the other side. This safety breach could have had much more serious consequences.
RED FLAG IS OUT AFTER A HORROR CRASH AT 130R #SFormula #superformula🔴 pic.twitter.com/aw5NWnNojQ
— Motorsport_News (@luca79020294) October 28, 2023
