5 times F1 drivers suffered high G forces during a crash

Crashes are inevitable in the world of F1 despite all the precautions. The sports demand is to drive around cars on some of the world's most dangerous tracks and at speeds that easily reach 300+ km/hr.

Honestly, this sport is not for the faint-hearted or weak-willed. These drivers carry on with their jobs irrespective of heavy rain, sunny day, or whatever. And sometimes, it's simply not their day.

An F1 crash is incredibly different from a normal car crash. For argument purposes, though the former happens under controlled and measured circumstances, they're still a threat to life.

F1 drivers face a G-force of up to 6G's during races. In layman's terms, this is the force a driver faces while going through high-speed corners under rapid acceleration that makes them feel a certain amount heavier than their actual physical body. (6G's meaning six times their normal weight).

A crash from the British Grand Prix (Image via Getty)

This kind of speed causes immense stress on a driver's body, who even end up losing significant weight during their 1-2 hours of racing. Further, their profession demands them to overtake, make moves, etc., increasing their stress, and sometimes due to innumerable factors, they might even end up in the walls.

Let's look at some of the worst crashes in racing history that have produced tons of G-force on that driver.

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#5 Lewis Hamilton's 45G fatal shunt to the ground

Lewis Hamilton has crashed twice this year. However, his second crash at Spa came in the form of him not leaving any space for Fernando Alonso's Alpine, going airborne as gravity pulled it back on the track at a shunt rate of about 45Gs.

White fumes that arose indicated obvious heavy damage to Hamilton's car.

Hamilton's crash at the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium (Image via Getty)

However, it was indeed a bad crash for Hamilton and could've been even more fatal if not for lap 1 racing. Thankfully, Hamilton was unharmed as he was quickly back on track to race again but had to retire his car moments later.

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#4 When Max Verstappen went flying into the walls of Silverstone at 51Gs

When we say that F1 reigning world champion Max Verstappen flew into the barriers during the British GP, then readers better believe it. Because this 51G crash happened in the blink of an eye, awarding the victory to Verstappen's arch-rival Hamilton.

In Verstappen's Red Bull's contact with Hamilton's Mercedes, the former took the shunt as he was out of the race in seconds. It was indeed a deadly blow to both him and his car, but thankfully, the driver came out of it unharmed and was taken to the hospital for relevant checks.

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#3 Romain Grosjean's almost life-ending crash in F1

The 2020 season opener proved to be the most fatal crash the Frenchman would ever see in his life. In fact, Grosjean's fireball incident is widely regarded as one of the worst crashes to have taken place in the sport.

Though the Frenchman simply ran into the walls during the opening lap, what happened next was a shocker.

Grosjean's crash at the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain (Image via Getty)

Grosjean's Haas broke into two, engulfed him into a heavy fire within seconds, and was quite literally stuck between and underneath the barriers. Later on, the French driver hailed his halo for saving his life and only walked off with some major hand burns. This scary incident recorded a force of up to 67Gs.

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#2 Ralf Schumacher's mega 78G crash during the 2004 US Grand Prix

Ralf Schumacher crashed his Williams hard into the walls of Indianapolis Motor Speedway due to a tire puncture. However, it was the only banked corner in F1 back then, causing a ninety-degree angle when Schumacher crashed.

This hard hitter left him with two minor spinal fractures while he was stranded midway and almost took out Mark Webber too. This incident particularly brought Michelin under scrutiny for their tires too.

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#1 Jules Bianchi's loss of life to a massive blow of 254G

F1 can be a cruel place sometimes, with many drivers even losing their lives in this sport. Safety wasn't as profound back then as it is during these days, with safety precautions like halo learning from accidents like Bianchi's. The young Marussia driver can be thanked for saving many lives posthumously.

Bianchi at the F1 Grand Prix of Japan (Image via Getty)

He lost control of his car during the Japanese GP and was driving at a speed of around 132 mph. Bianchi then crashed into a recovering crane that was removing Adrian Sutil's Sauber that had also lost control at the same corner a while ago.

Bianchi did not lose his life instantly but was in a coma for several months before passing away on July 17, 2015. His crash though recorded a magnanimous force of 254G that he must've faced during that ill-fated collision.

So, clearly, as rare as it is, even deaths do happen in F1. Thankfully, the FIA has taken major steps to increase the safety of cars and give drivers all the precautionary training to withstand such heavy impacts.