Online Reporter
LEWIS HAMILTON had his life “saved” by his car’s Halo after he was almost struck by debris.
The Ferrari driver was almost hit by the flying debris during the United States Grand Prix Sprint.
Footage showed the terrifying moment as his SF-25 was hit by a bit of carbon fibre at Turn 1.
Heading into the corner, a huge crash occurred after Oscar Piastri made contact with Nico Hulkenberg.
The collision was worsened as the cars were pushed into Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris.
As a result, car parts were sent flying all over the place and one part was heading for Hamilton.
The Halo was on call to protect the British driver as it deflected it away before it could hit him in the head. He managed to avoid the rest of the crash ahead of him and continued on the track. Fans were stunned by the onboard footage as they reacted on social media. One posted: “Somewhat lucky too. That could have easily gone past the Halo.”
A second wrote: “Halo literally saving Hamilton.”
A third commented: “That saved a potentially horrible accident.”
Speaking to Sky F1, Hamilton admitted that he was lucky to avoid anything worse from happening.
He said: “I managed to avoid the drama at Turn 1, just.
“I didn’t position my car particularly well.
“I saw Alonso on the inside so I went a bit to the right and left the door open to Charles.
“Lots of improvement is still to be made. Otherwise the start was good.”
Hamilton was able to continue in the sprint and will now line up in 5th place on the grid.
Both McLaren stars, Piastri and Norris, were forced to retire as were Alonso and Hulkenberg.
Meanwhile, Red Bull were fined 50,000 euros ($58,300), with half suspended, for a grid breach before the start of Sunday’s U.S. Formula One Grand Prix. Stewards said a Red Bull team member re-entered the gate well area near the grid position of McLaren’s Lando Norris after the formation lap had started and as marshals began to close the gate.
The reason for doing so was not disclosed in the statement.
Sources from more than one team told Reuters, however, that McLaren had placed a marker to help Norris line up his car correctly on the grid and the Red Bull employee had wanted to remove it.
The Briton qualified and finished second in the race, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on pole position and going on to take the victory.
There was no official comment from either team, with Red Bull principal Laurent Mekies speaking to reporters before the stewards’ decision and giving no details pending the outcome -Sun/Reuters.
