Since Ayrton Senna’s death at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994, only one F1 driver has died from injuries sustained during a race weekend. In that same timespan, eight men have been killed behind the wheel of an Indy car, either during practice, qualifying, or a race. That list includes Dan Wheldon, in 2011, and Justin Wilson, who died after crashing at Pocono Raceway just last year. F1 is now testing semi-closed cockpits. IndyCar is not.
But are those design changes the right solution? What else can be done to improve driver safety? For answers, we went straight to the source: Scott Dixon, four-time IndyCar Champion and current driver of the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing car. A close friend of both Wheldon and Wilson, see what Dixon has to say about danger, F1, and the future of safety in motorsports.