“I Can Either Be World Champion or Die"

“At Lotus, I can either be world champion or die,” said Rindt.

Rindt joined Lotus ahead of the 1969 season, after they had won the Constructors and Drivers Championships in 1968.

Notoriously unreliable, Lotus were involved in 31 crashes from 1967-69, but in the revolutionary Lotus 72 Rindt won five of the first nine races in 1970.

Jochen Rindt’s letter to Colin Chapman regarding the safety of Lotus’s cars. He also commented, “At Lotus, I can either become champion or die.”

In 1970, he was killed at age 28 after a brake failure while leading the standings. He still won the title. pic.twitter.com/EbZqOKbKG5

— Nathan (@b1gnate_11) March 27, 2021

Ahead of race ten in Monza, Rindt's breaks failed during practice. Crashing into a loose barrier, he suffered fatal throat injuries after slipping inside the car and hitting his belt buckle.

It later emerged that Rindt’s belts were loose and he was not wearing a crotch strap.

The Austrian's championship lead was so commanding that, despite four more races, he won the world title by five points.

Few moments in F1 history are as infamous as Williamson’s death at the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix.

On lap eight, his car flipped over and immediately burst into flames. 

Williamson was trapped inside the car, and poorly trained and poorly-equipped marshals were unable to help.

There was no significant attempt to rescue Williamson until fellow driver David Purley pulled over to assist.

Footage of Purley attempting to extinguish the flames and beckon other drivers to help remains horrifying to this day.

As the race continued, no other drivers stopped as they believed Purley had escaped from the car.

A fire engine eventually arrived from across the circuit. By then, Williamson had died of asphyxiation in just his second F1 race.

Runner-up in 1971, the ‘SuperSwede’ was second in the 1978 title race, trailing Lotus teammate Mario Andretti heading into Monza.

In a multiple-car opening lap crash, Peterson’s car hit a barrier and caught fire before ricocheting back onto the track.

Suffering minor burns, he was pulled out by James Hunt, though his legs were badly broken.

Vittorio Brambilla was also seriously injured but it took 20 minutes for either to receive treatment.

Delays in treating Peterson on track and in hospital meant he developed a fat embolism, which led to kidney failure. He died the next morning.

He still finished second behind Andretti in the title race.

Introduced in 2018, the Halo is a shield over driver’s heads and chests.

Calls for such protection grew when Jules Bianchi hit a crane head-first at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, and died following a nine-month coma.

“The FIA had to react to such accidents,” says the F1 engineer. 

“FIA engineer Andy Miller worked on the Halo with Mercedes and created a design.

“They did some testing, firing wheels at a dummy cockpit with the Halo on to ensure it would survive significant impact. Then they devised load cases and formalised what we had to do.

“It can be brought from two or three different companies, all of whom had to pass various tests, and we have to prove that the chassis' attachment points are strong enough to retain it under impact.”

The Halo was largely unpopular with drivers when introduced. Two crashes have since highlighted its importance. 

At the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, an opening lap crash resulted in Fernando Alonso’s McLaren landing on the Halo of Charles Leclerc’s Sauber.

Both escaped unharmed, and most believe Leclerc would have died without the Halo.

It also proved vital in saving Romain Grosjean's life at last year's Bahrain Grand Prix.

The sport was left momentarily shaken when his car split into two and burst into flames after piercing a barrier.

The Frenchman survived with fairly minor burns to his hands. The Halo protected him from the barrier and the ensuing fireball. 

New regulations will be introduced in 2022 to ensure that no car splits in two like Grosjean’s did.