For the sake of clarity, allow me to start this text by emphasizing that I have been a motorsports fan since my youth. I’ve been following the sport since those early days, and I have been lucky enough to watch true legends of the sport driving in front of my eyes, namely at the Macau Grand Prix.
This is exactly why, after the fatality at the last Grand Prix, certain doubts about the organisation of the motorbike race in Macau were somehow resurrected in my mind. I know that danger is part of the sport and that no motorsports is free from drivers suffering accidents while racing. Similar accidents are frequent regardless the circuit or the machine involved. For my generation, images of Ayrton Senna’s crash on Tamburello corner are still traumatic, despite the two decades plus that have passed. But despite my idol’s death, I never disputed the continuance of F1 races. Following that accident, Tamburello corner was redesigned, car safety was considerably improved and the results of those measures was the absence of any casualties between 1994 and 2015. Jules Bianchi is the most recent driver to be fatally injured during an F1 Grand Prix, and that happened in July 2015 at the Japanese circuit. Since then, there have been no similar casualties despite the considerable number of races that are organized every year.
Unfortunately, the same did not happen in Macau after Luis Carreira’s accident in 2012, exactly in the same location Daniel Hegarty crashed last week. As far as I know, the Macau Grand Prix organization did not render any significant changes to that corner’s safety measures and/or in its design. I can understand that redesigning the track may not be an option, namely because there is no available space to build runway escapes on several parts of the Guia Circuit. However, if that is the case, if it is truly and physically impossible to update the circuit to cope with standard safety levels, then perhaps the SAR Government and the Grand Prix Commission should consider stopping organizing the motorbike race. It is true that such a race is somehow unique, but for some reason no first tier riders or motorbike teams come to race in Macau… perhaps because safety should come first and apparently Macau cannot offer it, at least according to the worldwide standards practiced nowadays.
Those who disagree with me will certainly allege that drivers and teams are free to (or not to) race and that the race organization is not forcing them to enroll in the Macau Grand Prix. They’re coming by their own free will, so if they want to race, they should be allowed to race. Well, allow me to disagree. The SAR is above that, and is also required to assure safety and to preserve the life of all people living and visiting Macau, as under Macau’s Basic Law, human life is a major right. This means that, if it is proven that the Motorbike Grand Prix is not capable of assuring significant and actual safety standards, the life of its participants is in danger and the SAR has the legal obligation to do something about it.
It is urgent therefore to consider the continuance of the Motorbike Grand Prix in Macau, and the government now has almost one year to gather the data required to take such a decision or to start significant updates in track safety that can prevent future casualties like those involving Luis Carreira and Daniel Hegarty. If for any reason, the situation remains unchanged, then the government shall be deemed liable for not taking any measures to prevent future deaths.
By Óscar Alberto Madureira, Lawyer and regular contributor to MNA
