While all the focus and attention at the start of this weekend's British Grand Prix will be fixed on drivers like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen and their ability to make a clean start, Dr Ian Roberts is often considered one of the most important people at the track.

As the FIA's Medical Delegate and Chief Medical Officer for Formula 1, Ian is regularly on standby during races, ready to jump in the FIA Medical Car with a professional driver and rush to the scene of an accident at a moment’s notice.

When Romain Grosjean crashed heavily into barriers on the first lap of the Bahrain Grand Prix in 2020, his car ripped in half and burst into flames. Considered one of the most miraculous escapes in Formula 1’s history, Ian was among those first on the scene and received the FIA President Award and international praise for his bravery and reaction after helping to pull Grosjean to safety. Ian has helped ensure the safety of F1 drivers at more than 250 Grand Prix races and received the HRH Prince Michael of Kent Award of Merit in 2022 for his exceptional work in motorsport safety and medicine.

Before his career in motorsport medicine, which began with his appointment as the chief medical officer for Silverstone with responsibility for the British Grand Prix, Ian worked as a rotational Registrar in the NHS between 1993 and 1998. This included regularly working at Stoke-on-Trent's North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary and City General Hospital sites, and he also completed a Master of Medical Sciences degree with Keele University between 1996 and 1998.

Ian said: "The hospital was split into two sites back then, the North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary and the City General Hospital. When on-call in the hospital, in rotation with other specialist registrar colleagues, I was the senior person underneath the Consultant at the time, and it was extremely busy dealing with neurosurgical and cardiothoracic patients, supervising junior doctors in maternity and the main emergency theatre block and many other things. I seemed to spend all night going back and forth between the two sites and sleep was a real luxury back then.

"It was a great time in my career working in Stoke-on-Trent, which was just prior to when I became a Consultant in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. I actually look back on those days with real fondness because although it was a very busy time, I learned so much. The anesthetists and intensive care staff were fantastic, and the hospital had a huge catchment area, so you would see all kinds of patients, which was a real learning curve.

"During that time, I also completed my Masters with Keele University part-time over two years under the supervision of Professor Brian McGuinness, so in my case I would go straight from the lecture theatre or intensive care into lectures and tutorials at the North Staffordshire Medical Institute, and then it was back to work or being on call. It was a pleasure to be associated with the university and if there were ever any difficulties or I was struggling with something, help and support was always on hand."

While most Formula 1 fans see the FIA Medical Car only on Sundays, preparation begins much earlier in the week for Ian and his colleagues.

Ian said: "We usually end up arriving in the city or at the event on the Wednesday afternoon and we would normally leave either first thing Monday morning or later on. My job isn't just to be in the car, it's also to ensure that the FIA medical regulations are all complied with, and we do a lot of work before the racing gets under way, such as studying the track, checking the medical centre is suitable and carrying out various exercises.

"In the FIA Medical Car, you have a professional driver and it’s their job to get myself and a local doctor to the scene of an incident as quickly, efficiently and safely as possible. When we get to an incident, we will assess the driver’s condition and then I will manage the situation, which could be calling for fire resources if there’s a fuel leak, the extraction team if the driver is unable to get out of the car or for additional medical resources. We take the driver back to the medical centre in the FIA Medical Car or if it’s a serious injury, they would be put in an ambulance.

"The FIA Medical Car is on standby at the end of the pit lane during all sessions, so that’s practice, qualifying and the race, and we will be in our helmets and fireproofs, ready to go should anything happen on the track. You’ll also see the FIA Medical Car join the back of the grid when the race starts, and we complete the first lap because the cars are extremely close together at the beginning, and that is when you have the highest chance of a coming together or a car coming off the track. We are probably the only people to have started a Formula One race but never finished one."

The sport has made significant advancements in driver safety over the years, with serious incidents becoming less frequent. However, the sport’s inherent dangers still exist, highlighted by the Grosjean crash in 2020.

Ian said: "Due to the FIA's leading role in safety and safety research, safety in the sport has improved to a level where it would have been unrecognisable 20 years ago.  At a Formula 1 event, there can be times when we are not needed at all over the course of the meeting, but then on other occasions you’ll be out in the FIA Medical Car two or three times. What is sometimes forgotten is that behind the FIA Medical Car is a whole local medical team of highly trained and professional people and you’ll have extraction teams and ambulances dotted around the track, which provides a fairly rapid response to incidents and gets resources to the scene as quickly as possible.

“With the Grosjean crash, I did fear the worst when we got to the scene and you could see the flames and feel the intensity of the heat. As we pulled up, I could actually see him, and he was moving and starting to get himself out of his car, and in that split second, I ran towards him to see what I could do to help.

"Thankfully a race marshal was able to use a fire extinguisher just enough to get the flame away, and I reached over and just sort of grabbed him to help him over the barrier. The heat was phenomenal, it was stinging my face and it melted the bits of plastic on my race suit, which I still have in my loft at home.

"It was nice to receive the award and Romain said some very nice things afterwards, but I just did what was necessary at the time. The advanced technology we now have in Formula 1 cars also contributed massively to Romain surviving the incident."