The monocoques are made of carbon fibre, a composite material twice as hard as steel but five times lighter. And in Formula 1, every gram counts. The monocoque consists of up to 12 layers of carbon-fibre mats, in which the individual fibres are five times thinner than a human hair. A honeycomb-shaped aluminium layer is inserted between the carbon-fibre layers, which increases the rigidity of the monocoque even more. The whole shell is then heated under pressure in an autoclave – a giant oven – and completely hardened after two and a half hours. Even so, the baking procedure is repeated twice more for safety reasons, be-cause, at the end of the day, the safety cell should not only come from just one mould, but will also need to stay in one piece in an emergency.

The monocoques used in Formula 1 are tough enough to be able to survive even the most critical accidents. However, to protect the drivers, the cars must also have a certain amount of flexibility. This is the task of the compulsory crash structures in the car nose, sidepods and rear, which act as a preliminary safety cell to absorb some of the impact energy.

The load capacity of the crash structure and the monocoque is guaranteed by static and dynamic crash tests which have been stipulated by the FIA since 1985 and made more and more stringent over the years. Before then, the safety measures were largely left to the discretion of the teams, but the new regulations ensured a high safety standard that was compulsory for everyone. “The fact that the teams do not always pass the crash tests right away proves how important the tests are,” says FIA President Max Mosley.

The tests are carried out under the supervision of the FIA and are usually held at the Cranfield Impact Centre in Bedfordshire, England. As an example, to simulate a head-on collision, a nose is fitted to the monocoque, the fuel tank is filled with water and a dummy weighing 75kg is strapped into the seat. This test construction weighs a total of 780kg and is driven into a solid wall at a speed of 14 metres per second (50.4km/h). The rear and side crash structures and the roll-over bar are also tested.

Passenger cars are also subjected to a variety of crash tests, but have to fulfil completely different requirements. For instance, Formula 1 drivers are extremely physically fit, sit in tailor-made seats with excellent lateral and rear protection, and are also secured with integral six-point harnesses. In passenger cars, on the other hand, the impact speed is generally much lower and the seats have to provide protection and safety for passengers with a wide variety of body sizes. Passengers are secured with comfortable three-point automatic safety belts which give them the necessary freedom of movement to be able to reach the controls in the vehicle. As in the monocoque in Formula 1, the occupants in a passenger car are protected by the passenger cell, which protects the survival area and at the same time provides sufficient rigidity for anchoring the seats and the safety belts.

The situation becomes particularly critical for the occupants if the passenger cell is crumpled inwards in a serious collision. “That is a real problem in the case of side impacts,” says Dr. Hartmuth Wolff from the Allianz Centre for Technology (AZT). “In that case, side airbags – especially ones that protect the head – are particularly useful and can help to prevent serious injuries.”

And did you know…

... that rear crash tests have only been compulsory in Formula 1 since 1997? This new development led to the crash structure of the cars being strengthened even further. Giancarlo Fisichella benefited from this improvement in the same year, when he crashed backwards into the safety barrier at Silverstone. An evaluation of the black box showed that his Jordan braked from 227km/h to zero in just 0.72 seconds. In purely mathematical terms, 227km/h is the equivalent of a fall from a height of 200 metres. The monocoque as life insurance: Fisichella came away with just a minor knee injury.