Long term effects of massive crashes

[u/ProvenOrganism]

Usually we hear of injuries and deaths as a direct impact of big crashes. Will there be long term effects on the body from sustaining to many Gs, for those who got off "without a scratch"?

[u/AutoModerator]

We remind everyone that this sub is for technical discussions.

If you are new to the sub, please read our rules and comment etiquette post.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/sadicarnot]

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had a bunch of crashes resulting in concussions that eventually resulted in him retiring. The issue is with each concussion, the amount of force to get the next concussion is less. There are stories of Max Verstappen saw double for a while after his 51 g crash at Silverstone but hid it. Whatever the affects of the crashes have in F1 it is not spoken about much, but certainly it is not zero. Add in the amount of money they make, the pressure to power through it is high.

If you listen to the the interviews of retired drivers on The Dale Jr. Download, just about all of them talk about being in the infield care center, seeing double, and trying to hide the effects to be able to race on Sunday,.

https://youtu.be/CFRce-RgfYI?si=lFKC8yoBAX9IigYD&t=522

[u/space_coyote_86 → u/sadicarnot]

I see a lot of Nascar fans saying that Jimmie Johnson was never the same after his crash at Pocono in 2017.

[u/NtsParadize → u/space_coyote_86]

Same for Berger and Piquet after their crashes in Tamburello.

[u/cw-f1]

Boxing punch to the head ~ 50-60g

F1 crash ~ 50-250g

Except boxers don’t have a helmet or a HANS device, and get repeatedly hit every fight.

I doubt there are many long term effects for an F1 driver from ‘regular’ crashes let’s say, but obviously a huge one could perhaps give you a longer term injury.

[u/Fly4Vino → u/cw-f1]

For those with morbid interest in high G impacts

Available to read online

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Naval_Flight_Surgeon%27s_Manual,_Second_Edition_(IA_USNFlightSurgeonsManual1978).pdf.pdf)

Chapters on Accident Survivability and Autopsy symptoms v g forces

[u/catsgr8rthanspoonies → u/cw-f1]

They are also not exposed to the same amount of sub-concussive hits that lead to most of the damage in contact sport athletes.

[u/mrandish → u/cw-f1]

Yeah, any high-impact head trauma before a previous head impact has fully healed is bad. However, F1 drivers in recent years don't have serious crashes nearly as often as boxers fight and NFL tackles are in hard hits.

Even one really hard hit still isn't good but F1 drivers aren't near the level of potentially dangerous sequential exposure boxers, MMA fighters and NFL players are.

[u/jim2527]

A lot of retired old timer NASCAR drivers are ‘punch drunk’. Those guys can’t put together a 2 word sentence.

[u/zxrax → u/jim2527]

nascar used leaded fuel until 2007 -- are there drivers who weren't around back then with the same issues you speak of? inhaling vaporized lead for hours a week, years on end has to be absolutely atrocious for you, surely worse than some concussions. I saw some study that schools within a certain radius of nascar tracks saw statistically significant increases in academic achievement after the switch to unleaded fuel, and that's from being there once a year!

[u/F1Technical-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your comment was removed as it broke Rule 2: No Joke comments in the top 2 levels under a post.

[u/[deleted]]

I think i read that the impact needed for those long term effects like in the NFL or boxing is sustained and repeated impacts to the head. This is very different to the forces in a crash in a F1 car.

[u/Fly4Vino → u/[deleted]]

If you look at the road to F-1 many of the drivers have been subject to high g crashes on the long road to F-1.

[u/newbie_128]

They say their body aches the morning after, apart from that maybe more aches when they get older but nothing serious I think

[u/MetalGearHawk]

Verstappen had vision problems for a race or two after his crash at Silverstone in 2021, but fully recovered after that

[u/laidback_chef → u/MetalGearHawk]

I'm pretty sure it was the entire rest of that season. he said about retiring from the Austin gp it hot so bad.

[u/tripleeight8eight]

It was Indycar rather than F1, but it was repeat concussions from crashes that forced Dario Franchitti to retire, and I believe he has said that it affected his memory and concentration permanently.

[u/Marsof1]

These days there are so many safety measures that it would have to be a big crash to inflict long term injures. I remember Panis got 2 broken legs in a big crash all those years back.

Recently we've seen Zhou upside down behind the crash barrier and Hamilton with Verstappens tyre sitting on his Halo during that crash.

[u/Silver996C2 → u/Marsof1]

And it wasn’t long after his crash (Panis) that the barriers through that section (4 thru to 6) were changed to a safer type barrier. Plus the FIA crash standards for cars were improved for the following year (and numerous years afterwards).

[u/Atlas_Flandria]

The thing about F1 is that in reality it is a really safe sport. The "citadels" of the cars are really strong and thanks to the; HALO, HANS, Helmets, Monos and seatbelts the drivers are really protected. But in the end it takes a lot of effort to get to the point to control well an F1 car and there are also uncountable factors that can affect a driver.

There are more stories of drivers getting hurt outside the track rather than inside.

[u/ImReverse_Giraffe]

Max suffered from concussion like symptoms well after his Silverstone crash, even as late as Austin. Long term? Probably not. They just don't crash nearly enough and are very well protected.

[u/ClassroomStunning113]

The long-term effects of massive crashes, even for individuals who appear to escape with "no visible injuries," can be significant. While immediate injuries such as fractures or concussions are often highlighted, the body can endure hidden damage from experiencing high G-forces. These forces can lead to microtrauma in muscles, joints, and connective tissues, which may not manifest until later as chronic pain or mobility issues.