THE president of the British Racing Drivers Club believes the outcome of Dean Stoneman’s 143mph crash would have been very different 15 years ago.

Derek Warwick, a Formula One driver from 1981-93, knows all about the improvements to racing drivers’ safety over the last two decades.

The Hampshire-born former Le Mans champion, who grew up in Alresford, lost his younger brother Paul at Oulton Park, Cheshire in 1991 – three years before the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola.

“Motor racing has always been about luck and safety, that’s the way it goes,” said Warwick. “I’ve been upside-down in a Grand Prix car four times but then someone like my little brother had one big accident.

"There’s a lot of luck involved but that luck has been negated over the years with input from the FIA (International Automobile Federation) and guys like Bernie [Ecclestone], Max Mosley and Professor Sidney Watkins, who have had a massive effect on drivers’ safety.”

Warwick soon heard about Stoneman’s crash, from which the 24-year-old escaped with “bruising and a mild headache”, while testing his Formula Renault 3.5 at Circuito de Jerez, southern Spain last Thursday.

“The result would have been very different, even ten years ago,” said Warwick. “Whenever you have an accident at that sort of speed you’re lucky or you’re unlucky.

“Fernando Alonso hit the wall at the wrong angle [in Barcelona last month] and suffered concussion but Dean had the car repaired and was off again the next day.

“Not that long ago he wouldn’t have had a Head and Neck (Hans) Device and without one it would have been a very different outcome.”

The Hans device restrains the head on impact, preventing a fracture at the base of the skull, and has been mandatory for the last decade.

Other single-seater safety improvements include the raising of the sides of single-seater cockpits.

Drivers are now so well protected their shoulders are now out of sight when at the wheel.

“Dean’s head was level with the steering wheel, and wishbones are much stronger now – they don’t come back and hit the driver like we saw with Ayrton Senna,” added Warwick.

“Even at the rear end, although the gear box had broken in half it was still bolted on.”

Improvements in fuel cell technology prevented Stoneman’s car from being engulfed in a fireball, after the initial burst of flame, caused by the braking of fuel lines.

And the inside wall that Stoneman crashed into was made of tyres – safer than the concrete structure Senna crashed into 21 years ago.

Stoneman, from Bishop’s Waltham, was back in his Formula Renault 3.5 the next day. And he continued preparations for the 2015 championship, which begins in Spain next month, in a Red Bull simulator at the team’s factory in Milton Keynes yesterday.

Warwick believes he could yet follow in the footsteps of Carlos Sainz jnr, his predecessor at Dams, and make the step up to Formula One.

Should he do so it would be a remarkable story, given his comeback from cancer as well as his great escape in Spain.

“Dean is very much a part of the BRDC,” said Warwick. “He’s been through hell and back and this break he has with Red Bull is significant.

“It’s only four years since he was testing for Williams and destined for Formula One. His overtaking ability is second to none, comparable to Lewis Hamilton. Can he still get to Formula One? Yes, he’s good enough.

“But it will be tough, he’s one of six drivers I would expect to be challenging for the Formula Renault 3.5 Series this year.”