“The true story of the Drivers who risked their lives and changed the Sport forever.”
On a recent snowy day, I had some extra time and decided to finally get around to watching “1 – the movie.” – Unfortunately, my review comes a bit late since this film has been collecting dust on my shelf since 2013. But it’s new to me, and the content is still relevant. “1” is a glimpse into the darker side of Formula-1 (F1). It is presented in documentary style with beautifully remastered “originally televised” and behind the scenes footage going all the way back to the early days of F1. The film abruptly opens with Martin Brundle’s crash at Australian Grand Prix in 1996 – a horrific crash where he was able to walk away and jumps into the backup car and continues the race!
Then we dive head first into a chronology of Formula-1. The black & white archive footage was impressive with a some great pieces surrounding 5-time champion: Juan Manuel Fangio as well as Team Ferrari and “il Commendatore” (Enzo Ferrari). The end of this segment starts to vaguely set the tone for the rest of the film: SAFETY. After Fangio retired in 1958, it was the first time that significant rules changes were made by the standoffish FIA: Driver + Manufacturer scoring was to be separated. Wait… what?
Next up – It wouldn’t be fair to ignore the impact that Team Lotus + Colin Chapman had on Formula-1 during the sport’s trans-formative period of the ’60s. The Lotus influence (both good and bad) is weaved throughout most of the film, but I won’t spend too much time detailing this as there is another article brewing that will go into deeper detail on this particular topic. “1” then takes a quick turn to glorify and also vilify Monaco; the Monaco Grand Prix has been run since 1929 and is considered one of the more difficult and more dangerous tracks in the F1 season (with SPA and the Ring [at the time] being the Top 2). Monaco has ZERO room for error and has claimed many a vehicle and could be considered a “car crusher” more so than a track. But we watch the races for the wrecks, right?
Let’s take a quick break and go on-board with Senna, at Monaco in 1990.
About 30 minutes into the film, it finally takes a proper turn into addressing Motorsports Safety, highlighting the death of Jim Clark at Hockenheim (Pictured below, Clarks memorial at Hockenheim).
Clark was the superstar at Lotus, driving alongside teammate Graham Hill (father of Damon Hill – also interviewed in the film). Clark suffered a tire blow out which caused his Lotus to careen off the track, dying on impact. During this “goldern era” of F1, there were very little barriers around the tracks, if you went off there was a good chance you were going to hit a tree or some other stationary object. It wasn’t uncommon to loose several drivers a year to accidents.
Until the late 60’s, it seemed as though the FIA just didn’t care… no money or effort was being spent to upgrade the rules, the cars or the tracks. By 1969, Lotus was revolutionizing the sport once again and was the first team to add active aerodynamics to F1 cars. The added drag meant lower speeds on the straights but higher cornering speeds, and higher risks. After the tragic death of Jochen Rindt in 1970 and Bruce McLaren shortly after at Goodwood, Sir Jackie Stewart took up the cause for driver safety by starting the GPDA (Grand Prix Drivers Association) which could be compared to a “racers union” – to help promote safety, seat belts and getting the tracks to spend money on adding Armco and other barriers. As a “union” the drivers had power in numbers and often threatened to boycott races if changes weren’t made.
Like many causes, significant change is slow – but changes to the cars were outpacing the rules. Formula-1 was becoming more of a global spectacle. “There is no more an enthusiastic crowd of spectators than the Italians, they really follow the motor racing with a passion … they are so spirited, so enthusiastic, from that point of view, Monza is certainly the capital of the world.” – says Sir Jackie about the growth of F1 at that time. And after the death of Roger Williamson, the FIA finally implemented Fire Regulations and Fire Equipment became mandatory at each flag station. Can you imagine … 40+ years of Formula 1 and no fire regs? – CRAZY!
The second half of the film spends a lot of its time in focused on the 1968-1978 section of F1’s timeline. It was really cool to see the behind the scenes footage of the Watkins Glen. Especially the Seneca Lodge! – I think I might have sat in the same seat as Emmerson Fitipaldi at some point in my visits there 😉 –
Unfortunately this segment is quickly soured by the death of Francois Cevert, followed by the Hunt vs Lauda story (1976) – And by now, I’m sure many of you have seen the movie “Rush” so I can save you the recap. One quote you won’t find in “Rush” comes from candid moment with Lauda during this piece: “the easiest way back [from an incident] is to get back in the car and drive as quick as possible; don’t wait – the longer you wait the more worries you get.” – speaking to why he got back in the car so quickly after his incident.
More changes to the sport – thanks to the ground work of the Stewart’s GPDA, Bernie Eccelstone‘s coup d’etat of F1, Max Mosley‘s leadership and technology advancements of the ’80s / ’90s moved F1 into a better place, but not a great place. The safety measures were still quite lax … until Senna‘s death in 1994. Senna‘s death swept in a new era for Formula 1, he was the first driver to really make F1 races a global event, and in the advent of his death all eyes were on the FIA – something had to change.
Starting in 1995, here were some immediate and drastic measures that were imposed by the FIA to make sure that no more drivers died behind the wheel of an F1 car:
- On-site Medical Professionals (ie: Dr. Sid Watkins, etc); Standby Medi-vac, On-site Hospitals at every track
- Mandatory F1 crash testing
- Data recorders
- Higher bodies for better protection
- Tracks were redesigned with better curbing, run-off and barriers
- Wheel tethers were introduced
- Redesigned helmets to better protection
- 6-point harnesses / submarine belts were introduced.
The film loops back and shows us the Brundle crash one last time, and now, after understanding the progression of F1 safety through the clips and the eyes of the narrators, “1” starts to finally make sense. There is no doubt that Motorsport will continue to improve as technology, available materials, and rules change. #sciencesaveslives.
During the conclusion the film boasts “that as of 2012 – Senna was the last driver to die in F1 crash.” – Fact checking for 2018: there have been 5 since Senna, 4 of them in “historics races” with Vintage F1 cars: John Dawson-Damer, Fritz Glatz, Denis Welch and David Ferrier but only ONE in a modern F1 car: Jules Bianchi (2014). RIP.
Even in our small Motorsport community safety is paramount. GTM is also trying to better High Performance Driving (HPDE) through partnerships with organizations like the National Motorsports Safety Association (NMSA) and other groups in our area. If you want to learn more about changes that are being made, or how to contribute to this effort, be sure to check out NMSA’s website.
