Just a quick question for someone in the know, or someone with the mechanical knowlege to find an answer:
There is obviously a direct link between the front wheels and an F1 driver's hands through the steering wheel. That link must be strong enough to keep the wheels pointing sideways when turning corners, presumably a rather large force in any car, but especially so in formula one. Does anyone know if there are safety systems in place to make sure that any enormous force transmitted through the steering linkage in a crash does not make it all the way back up into the steering wheel, where it could break the driver's wrists?
If there is a deliberate weak-point in the steering system, would the power steering be the key to providing an adequate weak-spot or other passive mechanism for preventing injury: between the steering wheel and the power steering device, the forces transmitted must be very low, providing somewhere to add a reasonable breakpoint?