F1 News

In both Formula 1 and IndyCar the halo did its job this weekend

19 April 2021 at 20:03
Last update 19 April 2021 at 20:31
  • GPblog.com

The introduction of the halo a few years ago was met with enormous criticism. The aversion to the 'flipflop' even turned to disgust for some. And not only with the fans also a significant part of the drivers didn't like to drive around with these things.

Meanwhile, a few years have passed and we have seen some incidents where the halo was of vital importance. Mainly last year with the crash of Romain Grosjean of course. There is no doubt that without the halo he had a considerably smaller chance of survival.

Two major crashes in F1 and IndyCar

And this weekend there were two more crashes where the halo played a role. Although the term life-saving is used very often, because it is not that drivers died by the dozen before the introduction of the halo, but it is nice to see that the drivers have less to worry about with these incidents.

First, both Valtteri Bottas and George Russell got away with their crash at Imola. That Russell's left front wheel almost slammed into the Finn's cockpit is something most will have seen, but the halo on the Williams also headed off a large chunk of Bottas' car.

A few hours later, IndyCar driver Ryan Hunter-Reay was perhaps even luckier. He t-boned Josef Newgarden and the aeroscreen (which contains a halo construction) nicely ricocheted off the broken wheel.