Vettel: Drivers accept risk of death
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Shanghai Daily, October 20, 2011
Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel wants motor racing safety improvements following the death of IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon, although he said drivers accept the dangers involved.
The Red Bull driver called Wheldon's death a "big loss" but said risks cannot be avoided. "The bottom line is what we do might not be the safest so there is always some risk but we are ready to take that into account because we love racing and we love motor sports and it is dangerous."
The 33-year-old Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, died on Sunday in a fiery wreck at an IndyCar race in Las Vegas.
The last F1 driver killed on the track was Brazilian Ayrton Senna in 1994. Despite some claims that F1 has become "too safe," Vettel stressed that Wheldon's death shows racing should never stop trying to improve safety.
"The last couple of years we've had some big crashes and luckily no big injuries or worse than that," the 24-year-old German driver said yesterday. "We should never give up on trying to make racing safer in general."
Vettel was back at the Red Bull team factory in Milton Keynes, England, to celebrate becoming the youngest two-time F1 champion.
Meanwhile, IndyCar's new Dallara chassis will be named in honor of Wheldon, who conducted most of the testing on the new 2012 IndyCar.
"Dan lives in the memory of everybody at Dallara," company president and founder Gianpaolo Dallara said. "We will honor his memory by dedicating the Dallara IndyCar2012 in his name."
