Interlagos improves F1 safety after fatal crash

Organisers of the Brazilian grand prix have moved to improve the safety at one of the most dangerous stretches of track on the F1 calendar.

Three years ago, Brazilian stock car driver Rafael Sperafico died after striking the tyre barriers on the exit of the fast left-hand kink before the pitlane entry at Interlagos.

He died instantly when the car bounced out of the barriers into the path of a competitor.

Globo Esporte reports that, ahead of the penultimate round of F1’s 2010 championship, organisers have replaced the offending tyre barrier with a 225 metre stretch of ’softwall’.

The ’softwall’ concept - a combination of foam mounted behind hollow metal barriers - is intended to absorb the impact of an accident without ’grabbing’ the car and spearing it back onto the track.

"It’s a barrier that absorbs the impact," said circuit engineer Luis Ernesto Morales.

"It is a dangerous point of the circuit, with the wall very close," he added.