So no matter how great a speed icon Felipe Massa is, no one would want to be in his seat right now—knocked unconscious into a coma after speeding at 170mph and getting hit by a spring coming out of a Brawn GP driven by Rubens Barrichello!

Statistics indicate 24 drivers have lost their lives to the F1 dream. It’s easy to remark that the cars did not live up to the level of their drivers but it’s still a grim reality that F1 racing can be brutal and often, shocking.

The first F1 death occurred in July 31, 1954 during practice for the German Grand Prix. Onofre Marimón's Maserati left a race course curve after he lost control trying to improve his qualifying time. The car swerved off into a ditch that had a steep and treacherous incline, forcing the Maserati to roll over several times and finally pinning Marimón underneath.

Niki Lauda, a phenomenally talented racer and world champion also met his demise in Nurburgring; a burning 23 km lap aptly called ‘green hell’ was exactly that as rain for the most part wasted Lauda’s time. Unfortunately, he got trapped in the second corner, lost control and crashed into the wall. The impact forced the car to bounce back to the track injuring two other drivers. Collision colleagues rescued Lauda from the car.

A lot has also been said about the death of Gilles Villeneuve. Gilles’ talents remained within the bounds of winning 6 times and being closest to the title in 1979; the Canadian lost his life in the Belgian grand prix. In his attempt to reach the goal, Villeneuve’s car was airborne knocking into another car! He was catapulted from the car and died of a broken neck. Horrible but true.

Ricardo Paletti, an Italian junior karate champion at thirteen, and an F1 driver at 19 years. Cause of death? Qualifying successfully for the Canadian Grand Prix, Paletti experienced a situation of a delayed start due to a technical snag. Didier Pironi, another driver indicated the problem but when the signal did switch to green, there was a flurry of cars swerving across the track and trying to get past Pironi's car!

In the commotion, Paletti could not react in time and slammed into Pironi’s Ferrari at 180km/h!  Paletti sustained heavy chest injuries and was lying unconscious in his car, wedged against the steering wheel; he died before he could be reached to the hospital.

Sometimes an actual F1 racing event does not have to lead to death. A routine practice session was fatal for Mark Donahue when he lost control with a failed tire; he crashed into catch fencing thereby killing a track marshal with debris from the accident! Donohue survived for a while but a resulting headache ended with a coma stemming from brain hemorrhage.

Technology has always been integral to F1. Accidents however do not male a distinction as was the case with Jo Schlesser. Honda has just finished an experimental air-cooled F1 car (dubbed the RA302) which was tested and proclaimed unsafe. Honda entered it anyway at the 1968 French Grand Prix and Jo Schlesser the local hero, was hired to drive it. Two laps in and the car slid wide and crashed sideways into a bank! 58 laps worth of fuel ignited instantly killing Schlesser instantly.

Any way you look at it, the most publicized F1 accident is that of the great Ayrton Senna, a legend with numerous wins on and off the track—an outstanding model of zeal and dedication.

Ayrton had already won three world championships so people were taken by shock when Senna was hit in the head by the front right tire with an attached suspension piece! Senna’s death in this fated 7th lap of the San Marino grand prix shocked the world. Imagine being hit on the head with a tire that’s coming at you because another driver has crashed at 310 km/h into a concrete wall!

Ayrton's death was a double tragedy because earlier in the weekend, 33 year old Roland Ratzenberger was killed because high wind pressure broke the car wing off sending it under Ratzenberger's car! The car failed to turn struck the outside wall at 314.9 km/h! Ratzenberger's head was almost severed. He succumbed to a basal skull fracture.

The deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna brought serious inquiries into the safety of F1 racing. People were dying and families had to be consoled as well. But in the end, F1 racing is a sport that requires supreme fitness, courage and often times, a nerve to face the unknown at speeds touching 300mph.

So yes, it’s dangerous and risky but for what it’s worth, the F1 stars have got to have your adrenalin pumping every single time! Let’s hope Massa gets better and FI driving safety—accident proof!