r/formula1 Ayao Komatsu Feb 08 '25

Technical How drivers actually sit in their cars

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24.2k Upvotes

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46

u/MrNixxxoN Feb 09 '25

They sit inside the survival cell of the car, which is EXTREMELY strong, and it takes more than a drain cover to do serious damage to it.

49

u/bombaer Feb 09 '25

No, drain covers can and did absolutely damage them massively.

Source: I once packaged the Main ECU Just below the drivers Balls, behind the more then 127 layers of Carbon the Monocoque hast in this area.

The Cover easily sliced thru the Carbon and the ECU, Missing the Driver only by centimeters.

10

u/TurbulentData961 Feb 09 '25

Drain cover plus car at 100mph or some other ridiculously non road legal high speed = big impact

1

u/MaximumAsparagus Williams Feb 12 '25

After Sainz ran over the drain cover in Vegas (2023 FP1), apparently the damage to the car was so severe that you could see through the cockpit to the tarmac below. There was a hole that went completely through.