If there’s anything to take away from the Silverstone Grand Prix, it’s the safety upgrades made in Formula One cars are saving drivers’ lives.
The 10th Grand Prix of the 2022 season and it was an eventful Grand Prix, to say the least. If you are a Carlos Sainz fan then you most certainly will be happy with the result of the race.
However, while it was wonderful to see Sainz win his first F1 race and his first pole position, the horrific crashes that happened at turn one should not be forgotten. Thankfully all the drivers involved came out uninjured.
What happened at turn one?
The start of race was a scary one. When the lights went off and the drivers left into action the middle of the plot wasn’t so lucky. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) was one of the victims of the turn one crash.
The Chinese driver was flipped in the air when George Russell’s Mercedes and Gasly’s Alpha Tauri collided. That crash in turn tipped the Mercedes into a spin and into the Alfa Romeo at nearly 200 mph. The car flipped, skidded in the gravel of turn one and went to hit the absorbing barriers to land behind them.
Thankfully, Zhou was declared uninjured and thanked everyone who helped him out of the car. This scary crash was a harsh reality of the dangers of Formula One. However, thanks to the Halo, Zhou came out unharmed. The Halo is a relatively new safety feature, it was fitted on all cars in 2018.
What is the Halo?
This safety feature that saved multiple drivers this weekend in Silverstone is relatively new. The Halo is a titanium structure, covered with carbon fibres that sits above the cockpit of all Formulae cars. Not only Formula One and Two. But in F3, F4 and Formula E.
The Halo is capable of withstanding huge impacts which have saved drivers’ lives more than once since its instalment in 2018. This weekend alone it saved the life of Zhou in his horror crash and the life of Roy Nissany in F2 after Dennis Hauger’s car landed on top of him.
The Halo became an important safety upgrade after the death of IndyCar driver Justin Wilson in 2015. His tragic death at the Pocono Speedway called for greater cockpit protection in these open-wheel racing.
Critics of the Halo
However important the Halo was made out to be many people in the industry of motorsport racing were against it. Niki Lauda said it ‘destroys the DNA of a Formula 1 car’. And he was not alone. Many drivers also criticised the feature saying it was visually unappealing and would obstruct drivers’ vision.
At the time of the introduction of the Halo, Toto Wolff, Mercedes Team Principle said that he was ‘sceptical about the Halo’. Even ex-Formula One driver Romain Grosjean said he wasn’t a fan yet he couldn’t forget that it saved his life in his horror crash at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Furthermore, the events of this past weekend at Silverstone proved that the Halo should not be criticised anymore. This weekend the Halo did not only save Zhou Guanyu’s life. It also saved Roy Nissany’s life in Formula 2.
In the Formula 2 race, Dennis Hauger’s car wasn’t lifted up in the air by a sausage curb and ended on top of Nissany’s car. Experts say that there is no doubt the Halo saved Nissany’s life.
Thankfully both the F2 drivers came out uninjured but F1 journalist Chris Medland tweeted: ‘The Halo absolutely saved Nissany’s life. 100%.’
Not the first time the Halo saves lives
Whilst this weekend was pretty eventful, the drivers involved in those collisions can thank the Halo for saving their lives.
However, this past weekend was not the first time that the Halo had saved a life in a Formula One race. Think back to the 2021 Italian Grand Prix at Monza where Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was sent airborne into the path of Hamilton and his car landed on top of him.
Once again the Halo saved Hamilton’s life. After the race, Hamilton acknowledged that the Halo saved him and his neck. He said: ‘I feel very, very fortunate today. Thank God for the Halo which saved me, and saved my neck.’
Despite all the criticism that the Halo has faced since it was installed it cannot be denied any longer that the device has saved drivers a multitude of times. No one can deny the usefulness of the safety upgrades that the FIA has enforced. Many drivers could have faced much bigger consequences if it wasn’t for these upgrades. Think back to Schumacher’s crash in Jeddah and in Monaco.
The FIA has taken tremendous strides to make the sport safer. However, let us not forget that the sport is still a dangerous one.