Formula One, the motor racing event, finds its existence long before the second World War. However, the modern era of this immensely popular highest form of single seater car racing started off in 1950s. Europe happens to be the traditional base of this sport and almost half of the races every year are hosted by this continent. The number of Grand Prixs being held in other continents is also increasing with time. Fortunately, India has also hosted a Grand Prix twice and is gearing up for the launch of the third one in October 2013. Needless to say, Formula One is a highly dangerous and adventurous sport, something that can be testified by recalling the number of horrific accidents that have taken place.
Some of the nastiest crashes in the history of Formula One happened at 2010 European Grand Prix in Valencia, 2002 Austrian Grand Prix and 1998 Grand Prix of Belgium among others. While some accidents were caused due to negligence on the driver's part, some occurred due to improper circuit setup. Not all crashes have had a sad ending as a lot of them have helped the participant grow by leaps and bounds. One of the most horrifying crashes took place in the 1976 German Grand Prix, when famous driver Niki Lauda lost control of his Ferrari in the second lap of the race, spinning into the barriers on the right and then back across the track colliding with another car. This left the racer in coma and almost everyone had given hope on him. However, he survived and not only this, he showed outstanding courage when he sat again in his Ferrari exactly six weeks later.
The year 1982 saw the tragic death of one of the best racer of his times, Gilles Villeneuve, at the Belgian Grand Prix. His Ferrari hit Jochen Mass’s car in his final qualifying lap flying off in air. The crash was too horrendous for the spectators there and Villeneuve was thrown across the track still strapped to his seat. The doctors tried their best to save him but his neck was broken and he died the same day in the evening in a local hospital. In the year 1989, Gerhard Berger lost control of his Ferrari at Imola, sliding down the road and finally catching fire. Luckily, and to everyone's surprise, he survived with a few bruises and burns to take care off.
1994 can well be as called the black year in history of F1 as a major number of accidents took place. The world lost the great Brazilian racer Ayrton Senna, who is still considered as one of the best sportsmen of all time. He was leading the race when he lost track and eventually hit into the concrete wall at Tamburello corner. Reports have revealed that the front right tyre with attached suspension piece turned a little loose on impact, hit him on the head piercing his visor, leading to the untimely death of this great personality. At the same Grand Prix, the world lost another car racer, Roland Ratzenberger, who died a day before the death of Ayrton Senna. Due to front wing failure, his car crashed into a wall at an enormously high speed. The accident broke his neck instantly and he lost his life. Jos Verstappen's accident in 1994 in Germany is worth mentioning as his car caught fire though luck was on his side and he survived with a few burns and bruises even after the visor of the helmet being open. Rubens Barrichello also experienced a car crash at Imola in the terrible year of 1994.
In the recent past, Michael Schumacher and Luciano Burti hit each other at the 2001 German GP. Nick Heidfeld and Takuma Sato collided into each other's cars in 2002 at Austrian Grand Prix. Luckily, in both these crashes, everyone was saved even though while taking a look at the videos of the event, one might think that chances of survival were minimum.
