Max Verstappen says that Zhou Guanyu’s horror crash at the British Grand Prix is another example of why the Halo is a welcome addition to Formula 1.
On the opening lap of the race, Zhou’s Alfa Romeo car was flipped upside down after it made contact with George Russell’s Mercedes.
The car skated through the asphalt with the Halo scraping along the ground, before it reached the gravel and launched over the tyre barrier and into the catch fencing.
Zhou was extracted from the Alfa Romeo C42 and was soon given the all-clear from the doctors, who confirmed that the Chinese driver sustained no injuries in the crash.
Verstappen praised the Halo’s intervention, which was introduced in 2018 as a revolutionary cockpit safety measure.
“Most important is that Zhou and Alex [Albon] and all the drivers involved are OK,” Verstappen said after the race.
“I think only Alex is at the hospital at the moment for checks. Let’s wait and see what happens, but I hope that everything is going to be fine.
“That was a very scary sight, normally when you do the start and that quickly there’s a red flag, something serious has happened.
“I think today showed again that the Halo really belongs in Formula 1. That was very important to see that.”
The Halo was also praised for protecting Roy Nissany during the Formula 2 Feature Race on Sunday, after his car was hit by an out-of-control Dennis Hauger.
Verstappen’s race at Silverstone was hindered by damage, and he was forced to compete with an injured car for much of the race, crossing the line in seventh.
The reigning World Champion says it was an event of damage limitation, but was pleased to capitalise on the late Safety Car restart.
“The first two laps were very good. We had very good pace and I was basically just reeling in Carlos and he made the mistake so I got into the lead.
“Then a few corners later, a piece of carbon on the track in the kink of Turn 5. At the time I realised it was there, I could not drastically move left or right so I tried to hit it head on.
“Normally then it just evaporates or explodes, but this time it got into the floor and it completely destroyed the left hand side underneath.
“From then on, I was just losing a lot of time, the car was really undrivable. I tried to do the best I could. Because of the Safety Car, we gained a few spots, quite a lot of damage limitation today.
“I tried everything I could with the car I had. It’s of course not what I want but sometimes you have those races which just become a bit unlucky.”
To my eye the Halo has shown to prevent injury but the fact the car skated for a couple of hundred yard upside down with little to slow it needs looking at.
Similar accidents of Indy cars do not seem to act in that way perhaps the full screen is acting to give more aero drag to slow the car when going sideways upside down.
This needs further investigation rather than saying this is perfect has anybody thought of a rubber coating to the halo so it does not turn into a bob sleigh when inverted ?