Racing has changed over the years

Grand Prix racing has always had and always will have crashes, dating back to it's beginnings as road races in France. 

Back then the races were held on public roads, lined with trees, stone walls and houses. Today they use purpose built tracks or modified street circuits. The biggest difference between then and now has been safety technology.

Up through as recently as the early eighties, driving a race car meant you may not survive. Fatalities were an regular occurrence and if you didn't die, chances are you were injured.

 Since 1994 and the death of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna at the Imola race track, Safety took a giant leap forwards. Today there are transport helicopters, a trauma center, medical cars and doctors at every track. The tracks have been redesigned for run off areas and energy absorbing barriers. The cars themselves have become safety shells, creating spectacular looking accidents as the cars scrub off energy by literally disintegrating on their way to a stop. The driver cockpit has been reinforced to encapsulate and protect the driver. Since 1994 there has only been one driver fatality in Formula One and that was because the safety crew was working the scene of a previous crash when another car, driven by Jules Bianchi lost control and drove under the crane which was retrieving the car from the earlier crash.

creating spectacular looking accidents as the cars scrub off energy

Jules Bianchi

Once again F1 is looking towards safety, In 2017 they are requiring driver cockpit safety enhancement,  Head protection for the driver.

Two models have been tested so far...
The halo and the Aeroscreen.

The later one should keep an abundance of debris from finding it's way to the driver.

Felipe Massa's run in with the flying suspension spring a few years ago for instance.