Drivers hand injuries in Formula E, particularly since the advent of the Gen3 car in 2023, has been a major concern to teams, drivers and the FIA.
Several drivers have been injured in seemingly innocuous incidents whereby the steering wheel kicked back upon impact with barriers or other cars. This has forced hands in to either the side of the survival cell or flailed it back on to the wheel causing in the case of Robin Frijns at Mexico City in 2023 and Sam Bird at Monaco in 2024 serious bone damage.
There were other incidents too including Sebastien Buemi at Sao Paulo in 2023, Nyck de Vries and Pascal Wehrlein although these resulted in less serious injuries.
After work by the FIA to address this issue a short new film released by the governing body entitled ‘A Hands-On Approach to Driver Safety’ has been issued and gives an insight in to how a special steering damper was commissioned to be used from the start of the 2025 season onwards.
The FIA reports that in the front-end accidents ‘the steering wheel rotated up to ten times faster than usual – a revelation that prompted a suite of solutions from modifying the steering wheel’s shape to adding foam inside the cockpit and redesigning the front wing to better protect the car’s front wheels.
The steering damper is fitted parallel to the steering rack and slows the motion in case of high excitation of the steering column and lightens the forces experienced when an impact goes through the steering wheel itself.
‘While all of those adaptations have unquestionably helped, the real breakthrough came in the form of a new steering damper which absorbs the energy of the impact and reduces the peak rotational speed in such situations by as much as 40 per cent, with no repeat injuries since its introduction.’
Within the FIA film a spotlight is shone on the challenges as well as the ‘painstaking procedure from testing and simulation to final validation, and features insights from FIA Safety Director Nuno Costa, FIA Chief Technical and Safety Officer Xavier Mestelan Pinon and ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Medical Delegate Bruno Franceschini.’
Bird praises the FIA for going ‘above and beyond to ensure these things don’t happen anymore’ while Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns, also details his incident and subsequent recovery which included him missing four races.
“My injury was quite bad, but the FIA is pushing hard to make it safer for us and they’ve made big steps from that moment onwards. I think the steering damper is a very good tool. If you have a crash, the damper takes all the force away from the wheel so it doesn’t really move out of your hands anymore.”
The change in incident outcomes has been notable in 2025 with no hand injuries reported despite several similar accidents occurring in the Formula E field at several races.
Main image thanks to Emma Ridgway
