Sid Watkins

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Eric Sidney Watkins , OBE (born September 6, 1928 in Liverpool , Great Britain - † September 12, 2012 in London ), commonly known as Professor Sid , was a British neurosurgeon who was the FIA's official chief physician for Formula 1 from 1978 to 2004 -Race was.

Life

Start time

Watkins studied medicine at the University of Liverpool and graduated in 1952. He then worked for the Royal Army Medical Corps in West Africa for five years , but immediately returned to the UK to specialize in neurosurgery at Oxford University . At this time he also began to be interested in motorsport and worked in his spare time as a racing doctor on the Silverstone Circuit .

Watkins went to Syracuse to become Professor of Neurosurgery at the State University of New York . However, he soon returned to England and became chief of neurosurgery at London Hospital .

Formula 1 career

Sid Watkins and another accident worker take care of the injured Ralf Schumacher at the 2004 US Grand Prix

In 1978 he met Bernie Ecclestone , who was the manager of the Brabham team at the time and who offered Watkins the position of official Formula 1 racing doctor. Watkins accepted the post, and the FIA ​​recognized over the years that he had a major role in modernizing Formula 1 medical standards. As chief physician, Watkins sat in the medical car at every race or race weekend . During free practice at the 1995 Australian Grand Prix , the season finale in Adelaide , racing doctor Sid Watkins had to cut the trachea of the seriously injured Mika Häkkinen on site.

On January 20, 2004, Watkins announced his resignation from all FIA medical posts, but continued to serve as President of the FIA Institute for Motor Sport Safety . FIA President Max Mosley named Watkins' longtime deputy Gary Hartstein as his successor.

On the occasion of the 2011 race in Monza , the FIA ​​Institute under the direction of President Sid Watkins presented how drivers' heads can be protected even better in the future.

Honorary title

Sid Watkins with a plaque commemorating the 1985 Formula 1 drivers.

In 2002 Watkins became a member of the Order of the British Empire . The University of Liverpool awarded him an honorary doctorate at a ceremony on July 8, 2004. On October 8, 2004, he became the first president of the FIA Foundation for the Automobile and Society, and on December 10 that year, he became the first president of the FIA ​​Institute for Motor Sport Safety, both by virtue of their centenary the FIA ​​had been established.

Watkins was also the author and co-author of several books on racing safety. He was married and had four sons and two daughters.

Sid Watkins died of cancer on September 12, 2012 at the age of 84 in London's King Edward VII Hospital .

In October 2014, a hospital in Watkins' hometown of Liverpool announced that it would name a new building after him.

Publications

  • Sid Watkins: Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One . Motorbooks Intl. 1996, ISBN 0-7603-0315-0 .
  • Sid Watkins, David Tremayne: The Science of Safety: The Battle Against Unacceptable Risks in Motor Racing . Haynes Publications 2000, ISBN 1-85960-664-4 .
  • Sid Watkins, Jackie Stewart : Beyond the Limit . Pan Books 2002, ISBN 0-330-48196-7 .

Web links

Commons : Sid Watkins  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Motorsport world mourns legendary racing doctor Watkins  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Eurosport, September 13, 2012, accessed September 14, 2012)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / de.eurosport.yahoo.com  
  2. ↑ Formula 1 mourns Sid Watkins . In: Spiegel Online , September 13, 2012.
  3. ↑ Andrew Benson: Sid Watkins: F1 safety and medical pioneer dies aged 84 . BBC , September 13, 2012 (English).
  4. ↑ Dominik Sharaf: "Posthumous honor for medical icon Watkins". Motorsport-Total.com, October 20, 2014, accessed October 20, 2014 .
personal data
SURNAME Watkins, Sid
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Watkins, Eric Sidney
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British neurosurgeon, Formula 1 chief physician
DATE OF BIRTH September 6, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Liverpool
DATE OF DEATH September 12, 2012
Place of death London