Formula One on Sunday breathed a sigh of relief after the sport’s new “halo” head protection device saved Charles Leclerc from what might have been a potentially serious impact.
His Sauber car bore the scars instead, tire marks showing where Fernando Alonso’s McLaren had bashed against the bodywork and halo as it flew over the 20-year-old Monegasque rookie’s head.
“We can end the HALO discussion now. It will save lives,” 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg tweeted after seeing the images.
Photo: AFP
The ring-like halo was introduced this season to protect the drivers’ exposed helmets from precisely such sideways glancing impacts, as well as frontal blows.
“I felt the impact and looking at the image, it is quite spectacular. It was lucky,” said Leclerc, whose family have close ties with that of French driver Jules Bianchi, who died of head injuries in 2015.
“I got quite a lot of messages. My mum called me quite a lot of times. Everyone was quite worried,” Leclerc added.
Alonso was the blameless party, his car sent airborne after Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg misjudged his braking into the first corner and smashed into the back of the McLaren, sending the Spaniard flying.
“The halo was a very good thing to have today. I think that for him, it helped — looking at the replay,” the two-time world champion said.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who had said before the season that he would happily take a chainsaw to the unattractive device, sounded like a convert.
“That gave all the justification. As you know, I am not a fan of the halo — I think the aesthetics are terrible,” he said. “But having saved Charles from harm and injury makes it all worth it. It could have been very nasty. I’m happy that we have the halo.”
Hulkenberg was handed a 10-place grid penalty for next weekend’s Italian Grand Prix for causing the collision that brought out the safety car.
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