Yeah, it’s a fair point. The idea of those armco barriers is that they act as energy absorbers, crumpling to lessen the shock. But in this case, they basically

Yeah, it’s a fair point. The idea of those armco barriers is that they act as energy absorbers, crumpling to lessen the shock. But in this case, they basically tore the car in half. Martin Brundle made the point during the commentary that a concrete barrier (which they put up to replace the armco) would allow the car to skid along it. You could also imagine safer energy absorbers, like barrels of water or tyre stacks. Clearly, this crash needs to be studied to see if any new safety regulations are needed for those kinds of service roads that jut out next to high speed straights. I have every confidence in the FIA to do that (both the halo and the VSC resulted from studying Jules Bianchi’s fatal crash). As far as safety goes, the FIA is (IMHO) one of the most responsible and trustworthy sporting organizations in the world.