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High-speed cameras, pointed at the driver and taking frames
every 100th of a second, were installed in cars at the start of
the year and provided detailed information about Fernando
Alonso's Australian Grand Prix crash in March.
Drivers' radio earpieces now also incorporate tiny
accelerometers, wired through to the car's electronic control
unit, that measure the forces the head is subjected to in any
impact.
Laurent Mekies, the General Manager Research for the governing
FIA's Global Institute, said that there was more to come.
Biometrics, gathering data such as a driver's heart rate, body
heat and sweat levels, were the next step.
"I hope that we will be able to put something on a driver before
the end of the season, at least in a test," he told the latest
edition of the FIA's Auto magazine.
"Biometric data will help us to assess the driver's conditions
before, at the time of the crash and after the crash as far as
the rescue operations are concerned."
Mekies said plans to introduce a cockpit head protection system
next season, with a so-called 'halo' device favored, also
offered the opportunity to place additional cameras above the
driver.
Safety belts could also be used to help estimate the loads on a
driver's upper body.
In the case of Alonso's crash at the Melbourne season-opener,
the high-speed camera footage showed the Spaniard's helmet made
contact with the left inside of the headrest twice during the
impact.
The McLaren, which hit the Haas of Mexican Esteban Gutierrez at
305kph at the point of impact, recorded a lateral deceleration
of 46G after digging into the gravel and being thrown into the
air.
Alonso walked away but missed the subsequent race in Bahrain.
The FIA said it was the first time that all of the new safety
measurement systems had been brought together to provide "a
forensic picture of what happens to the driver and the car
during a major accident."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
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