Did the halo save Leclerc at Spa?
Formula 1’s halo device has been widely credited for stopping Charles Leclerc’s head being struck by Fernando Alonso’s flying Mclaren during the dramatic first-corner crash in the Belgian GP.
Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault hit Alonso from behind, and the Mclaren cannoned into the back of Leclerc’s Sauber before riding over the top of it. Amidst the wreckage, the right-hand side of the halo showed clear signs of the impact.
The halo has divided opinion since its introduction this season. Its detractors have questioned whether it is necessary or even effective, since it represents a halfway house between an open cockpit and complete driver protection.
However, leading F1 figures praised the halo even before slow-motion videos emerged in which it appeared to deflect Alonso’s right-front tyre from a trajectory seemingly bound for Leclerc’s crash helmet. FIA race director Charlie Whiting said the “huge extent” of tyre marks showed the Mclaren “probably would have made contact with his head”, though he conceded that was a speculative view.
“It doesn’t take much imagination to think that the tyre marks could have actually been on Charles’s head,” he said. “It would be a bit of a miracle if they weren’t, had the halo not been there.”
F1 sporting boss Ross Brawn backed up Whiting’s statement that a full analysis was needed before reaching a firm conclusion. However, he believes that it “in all likelihood prevented Leclerc’s helmet from being hit by Alonso’s car” and said “the marks speak volumes in this regard”.
Much of the debate after the initial replays were shown focused on whether it was the underneath of the car or the right-front wheel that struck the halo. Those who continue to criticise the device, or those who believe it made no difference in this incident, suggested that a glancing hit to the edge of the halo was not really a danger, and that it was only marked because it protrudes the imaginary ‘line’ from the top of the rollhoop to just in front of the cockpit opening, above the driver’s head
However, since crashes unfold in three dimensions, it is impossible to say with
WHITING: “THE TYRE MARKS COULD HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN ON LECLERC’S HEAD”
certainty that a trailing part, such as a wheel or a wing, would have missed Leclerc’s helmet – particularly in this incident, in which the Mclaren was moving quickly while spinning. The line from rollhoop to cockpit is intended to ensure a gap to the driver’s head that is big enough to protect them if a car lands on another, or to give them room to get out if a car lands upside down.
It is wrong to use that imaginary line here because it is a completely different kind of accident. Michael Schumacher’s crash with Vitantonio Liuzzi in the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, or Fernando
Alonso escaping his crumpled Mclaren in Australia in 2016, are examples of incidents in which that line is most effective.
F1 is trying to eliminate as many freak accidents as possible, and two airborne first-corner crashes in seven years at Spa barely merits that description. In 2012, Alonso was lucky not to be struck in the head but in ’18, luck played no real part in Leclerc walking away unharmed.
This is why the halo was also praised by former drivers, such as 2016 F1 champion Nico Rosberg and 2008 runner-up Felipe Massa, who was nearly killed by a rogue spring durring 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying and understands the need for cockpit protection better than most. Massa, referencing those that criticised the halo for making F1 cars look less attractive, tweeted a photo showing the damage to the device on Leclerc’s Sauber and said: “After seeing this, we can say, ‘the halo is beautiful’.”
Rosberg added: “We can end the halo discussion now. It will save lives.”
The FIA has worked extensively on the halo and after this crash, plus Tadasuke Makino’s Formula 2 accident in Spain in May, it now has two major case studies from which it can extract crucial data.
It can look at how the halo and its fixings held up, how much force it took, and take that on board as it develops the next-generation concept. Whiting said that will be extremely valuable because the FIA is “in the process of beginning development on ‘halo 4’, so the more information we can get, the better”.
Though enduring critics of the halo may bridle at the news there is a nextgeneration halo in the works, Alonso said “we don’t need to prove that it’s a good thing to have”.
“I flew over his car and the halo was a very good thing to have today,” he said. “For him it helped, looking at the replay. I was happier that I had the halo.”