FIA: Leclerc would have needed miracle without halo
CHARLES Leclerc would have required a “miracle” to avoid a potentially fatal injury if the ‘halo’, Formula One’s controversial new safety device, had not been on his car in Belgium.
That was the verdict of the FIA, motorsport’s world governing body yesterday, after fresh television footage emerged of the terrifying opening-corner accident.
The slow-motion video, captured from the on-board camera on Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso, shows the front-right wheel of Fernando Alonso’s car smashing into Leclerc’s halo.
The three-pronged design, which sits on the driver’s cockpit and became mandatory this year despite fierce opposition, deflected Alonso’s McLaren away from Leclerc’s head.
The crushing force of the impact was enough to break the Spaniard’s McLaren suspension. Alonso’s black tyre marks were visible on Sauber driver Leclerc’s white halo.
“It doesn’t take much imagination to think that the tyre marks would have actually been on Charles’ head,” FIA race director Charlie Whiting said.
“It would have been a miracle if they weren’t, had the halo not been there. What is clear is the significant tyre marks on both the chassis and the halo. It looks like it has had a fairly hefty whack.”
Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg will serve a 10-place grid penalty at the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday for his role in the terrifying accident.
The German, also hit with three penalty points on his licence by the stewards, crashed into the back of Alonso to send the McLaren car hurtling towards Leclerc.